Periyar Dasan / Abdullah Periyar Dasan

Periyar Dasan (21 August 1949 – 19 August 2013) was a Tamil scholar, eminent speaker, and activist from Tamil Nadu. He propagated atheism and rationalist ideologies for most part of his life. He has also appeared in around 15 Tamil-language films.

Born in a Shaivite family on 21 August 1949 at Agaram in Perambur, Dasan was attracted towards the rationalist ideals of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the founder of the Dravidian movement. During his days in Pachaiyappa’s College, he changed his original name Seshachalam to Periyar Dasan ('Ardent follower of Periyar').

He was well-versed in Tamil literature, various religious studies, and English. He has authored around 120 books. He was served as a professor in his alma mater, Pachaiyappa’s College, for 34 years.

In 1991, Dasan embraced Buddhism and added Siddartha as a prefix to his name. He translated the Dhammapada, a compilation of Buddhist virtues, authored by B. R. Ambedkar, into Tamil. This took him to learn Pali and Sanskrit.

Taking everyone by surprise, he embraced Islam as his way of life on 11 March 2010 during a visit to Mecca and rechristened his name as ‘Abdulla Periyar Dasan’. Thereafter, he started giving a series of lectures on Islam.Before embracing Islam, he spent 10 years in knowing the key aspects of that religion and learning the quran and the Arabic language.