Question

What did the ‘Villuvandi Samaram’ by Ayyankali achieve?
A.Entry rights for avarnas into temples
B.Entry rights for avarnas into public roads and squares
C.Rights for avarnas to use the villuvandi as a mode of transport
D.Both B and C.

Answer 1

Hint:: Ayyankali helped to achieve right to access the public roads for lower caste community members. He is knoun as‘Father of modern Dalit’. He is considered as one of the important social reformer in Kerala.

Complete answer:
Ayyankali was the first social reformer who came from a Dalit family in Kerala. He was from the Pulaya community which was considered as ‘untouchable’ in Travancore/Kerala. In his times people of lower castes had no basic civil rights. He brought social justice to Travancore. Ayyankali is known as ‘Father of modern Dalit’. Ayyankali worked hard to establish the right of all people to have basic rights and dignity. He had fought for a vision of a society where public places and dignity were not restricted to marginalized sections of society.

In Travancore/Kerala, members of lower caste communities were not allowed to enter public roads as these roads were controlled by the members of higher caste communities. So, ‘Villuvandi Samaram’ (Bullock cart strike) was the direct result of this social discrimination and this movement was led by Ayyankali himself. In 1893 Ayyankali brought a Bullock cart from a neighbouring state and marched over the public roads of Venganoor. Ayyankali was a human rights champion.
Even though he was brutally attacked during his first ride using bullock cart, he later had done several other bullock cart rides in public roads. In this way, Ayyankali brought back the right to access the public roads for lower caste community members of Travancore/Kerala. And this movement was known as ‘Villuvandi Samaram’. Today this movement is celebrated as one of the major achievements in the history of Dalit movements in Kerala.
So, on the basis of question ‘Villuvandi Samaram’ by Ayyankali achieved the entry rights for avarnas/members of lower caste communities into public roads and squares.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: Raja Ram Mohan Roy contributed many social reform movements to Indian society and he wrote many books related to the inequalities practised in that society. He was given the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor.