Iyothee Thass Pandithar

About Iyothee Thass Pandithar

• He was born on 20 May 1845 in Madras presidency.
• He was a prominent anti-caste activist and a practitioner of Siddha medicine.
• Association with tribal people: In the 1870s, Iyothee Thass organized the Todas and other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills into a formidable force for the freedom movement.
• In 1876, Thass established the Advaidananda Sabha and launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian in collaboration with Rev. John Rathina.
• He established the “Dravida Mahajana Sabha '' in 1891 along with Rettamalai Srinivasan.
• He established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras with branches all over South India.
• The Sakya Buddhist Society was also known as the Indian Buddhist Association and was established in the year 1898.
• To manage and coordinate the functioning of the society, he began a weekly magazine, Tamizhan in 1907. 

Q1) What is Siddha medicine?

It is a traditional system of healing that originated in South India and is considered to be one of India’s oldest systems of medicine. The Siddha system is based on a combination of ancient medicinal practices and spiritual disciplines as well as alchemy and mysticism. It is thought to have developed during the Indus civilization, which flourished between 2500 and 1700 BCE. 

Source: Stalin to unveil statue of Iyothee Thass Pandithar on December 1