have originated in some ancestral guardian spirit of the villages or communities in Tamil Nadu, in a similar manner as Ayyanar. These deities are primarily worshipped by agrarian communities. Unlike the Vedic traditions, these deities generally do not abide in temples, but in shrines in the open. These gods are primarily worshipped through festivals throughout the year, during important occasions like harvest or sowing time. To propitiate these gods, the villagers make sacrifices of meat (usually goats) and arrack, which is then shared among all the village. In addition, the mantras are not restricted to Sanskrit and are performed in Tamil. Worship of these deities is oftentimes seen as the modern continuation of the Dravidian folk religion followed before the Indo-Aryan migration into Indian subcontinent. Similar practices exist among the Kannada and Telugu non-Brahmin castes and Dravidian tribes of Central India. Caste A steeply classified class structure existed in Tamil Nadu from around 2000 years because of the correlation in the form of cultivation, population and centralization of political system. These classes in turn are grouped into social groups especially in rural areas. The shape of class system in rural Tamil Nadu has changed dramatically because of land reform acts like 'Green Revolution'. As per 2001 census, there was a total of 11,857,504 people in Scheduled castes (SC) constituting 19% of Tamil Nadu and 7.1% of SC population in India. Leaving 840 in Buddhism and 837 in Sikhism, leaving the remaining 1,18,55,827 in Hinduism. The literacy rate (who can read, write and understand) among these stands at 63.2% which is lower than the 73.5% state level literacy rate. Self-Respect Movement The Self-Respect Movement is a movement with the purported aim of achieving a society where backward castes have equal human rights, and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy. It was founded in 1925 by E. V. Ramasamy (called Periyar by supporters) in Tamil Nadu, India. Ramasamy's movement espoused atheism and rationalism, and was a proponent of anti-Brahminism. He also encouraged members of the lower sections of society to convert to Christianity or Islam. He also claimed that Muslims follow the ancient philosophy of the Dravidians. A number of political parties in Tamil Nadu, such as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) owe their origins to