subcontinent B.C. Sanskrit, a classical language of the Aryan group, was considered to be a sacred language, whereas in the Madras Presidency of British India, it was a commonly held opinion in that the Dravidian tongues were inferior. The linguistic divide was even more pronounced given the political dominance of Brahmins in South India. The Brahmins, who occupied the highest strata in the society , accounted for 3% of the population in Madras Presidency, but held 60 to 79% of the positions in major government departments in the early 20th century. It was observed by some non-Brahmin leaders from the south that Brahmins were Aryans, and hence non-natives, who had taken positions in the government that should rightfully be filled by people indigenous to the area. The antipathy towards Sanskrit compounded with the animosity against the hegemony of Brahimins paved the way for the rise of Dravidian politics in Madras Presidency. Early Dravidian politics An early pioneer in Dravidian politics was Iyothee Thass in the late 19th century. His efforts brought together the non-Brahmin caste Dravidians with the establishment of the Dravida Mahajana Sabha organisation in 1891. A major leap in Dravidian politics was the formation of the Madras United League by non-Brahmin intellectuals, who considered the dominance of Brahmins in civil administration a threat to the non-Brahmin majority. The League was initially started as a workgroup that helped non-Brahmin students in Madras with accommodation by Dr C. Natesan. It later grew into a political party under the efforts of leaders like C Natesa Mudaliar, Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair. The party was named South Indian Liberal Federation (S. I. L. F.) – popularly known as the Justice party. Justice Party era A limited form of self governance was introduced in British India after World War I. While the Justice Party saw this as an opportunity to displace Brahmin dominance, the British colonial government considered it favourable, since the Indian National Congress, which spearheaded the Indian independence movement was dominated by Brahmins. The Justice party emerged as a winner in the 1920 general elections and brought about the reforms it had campaigned for, including establishing communal reservation through affirmative action for the first time in the country, and brought temples under state control. Soon after their electoral success the animosity between Tamil and Telugu members deepened, thus weakening the party. Nevertheless, the Justice Party electorally dominated