In the 1930s, Periyar put forward the argument for the necessity of women using contraception, and his position was based solely on the principle of freedom. This idea was presented in an essay published on September 17th, marking the 148th anniversary of Periyar's birth in Tamil Nadu.
Periyar insisted that women needed contraception not for health or population reasons, but to achieve personal independence and true freedom. This single motive distinguished him from other reformers of that era, who cited maternal health or family property.
He wrote that multiple pregnancies exhaust women and tie them to domestic labor. However, for Periyar, freedom was not limited only to the body; he believed that women would remain dependent as long as they relied on their husbands for financial matters. Therefore, he demanded rights to property and wages for every woman.
Periyar's arguments became increasingly bold. He criticized the institution of marriage itself, publicly condemning customs that reduced a wife to the status of her husband's property, and advocating for a woman's right to unilaterally dissolve a marriage.
A year later, in 1931, the publication 'Kudi Arasu' contained an essay pointing out real dangers, such as pregnancies started before the body had recovered from previous births, as well as pregnancies in sick women, using the medical terminology of the time.
These ideas did not remain private. Periyar himself founded 'Kudi Arasu' and repeatedly used its pages to promote these theses among readers across Tamil Nadu, never softening his stance.
The man behind these statements barely finished school. Periyar diligently read and wrote for decades, and this extensive body of his work is now almost entirely preserved, having been carefully digitized in the Periyar Archive.
Nagammai, who is mostly remembered as his wife, organized campaigns, spoke publicly, and influenced the work of 'Kudi Arasu' from within, rather than just observing the movement he led alone.
Scholars from Cambridge studying his works see something more in his activities than just one campaign. Periyar's thinking went beyond formal equality and moved towards personal, sexual, and reproductive freedom, where contraception was merely one thread in a much broader reasoning.
Nearly a century before reproductive rights became part of mainstream discourse, Periyar was already questioning who controlled a woman's body. On the day of his 148th anniversary, this question still awaits a more complete answer than the one provided then.