Kerala and Its Trajectory to Modernity Historical Outlining of Role of Caste and Dalit Movements

Modern Kerala is the byproduct of long and intricate historical processes. Various historical epochs played a crucial role in the construction of contemporary Kerala society among them the society's embrace of modernity and the renaissance movements which encompassed are vital ones. In these historical drives challenging caste was a central theme and the Dalit movements played a significant part in it. In the long history of Dalit movements in Kerala, the reform movements started during 19th century which had a great impact on the orthodox Kerala society. These movements were fundamentally well organized, powerful and systemic. This paper is an attempt to explore how these Dalit movements instigate Kerala society's journey towards modernity, how it articulated the notion of equality in stratified Kerala, and how the luminaries from Dalit community contributed in it. Dr. Lijitha T Thampy "Kerala and Its Trajectory to Modernity: Historical Outlining of Role of Caste and Dalit Movements" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-10 | Issue-1 , February 2026, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd100188.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/100188/kerala-and-its-trajectory-to-modernity-historical-outlining-of-role-of-caste-and-dalit-movements/dr-lijitha-t-thampy