Names that speak volumes

W hen it was in a nascent stage, the Dravidian movement was sure-footed. Its luminaries were full of fire and determined to upend the caste status quo.

Nearly every one of them came from humble backgrounds, says R. Kannan, biographer of C.N. Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran (MGR). Barring a few, most of the leaders they took on in the Congress came from wealth and high status, he points out.

Therefore, these early leaders needed to amp up their profiles even if that meant resorting to exaggeration. Some changed their rather prosaic names to more exotic ones. By becoming Nedunchezhiyan , Narayanaswamy, who held an MA in Tamil literature, sought to do away with a Sanskrit name and acquired the aura of Sangam-era royalty — the original Nedunchezhiyan was a king of ancient history.

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