Annadurai, Homeland Editorial - 14-06-1959
Wikipedia : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Heras
Four years ago, Rev. Father H. Heras, S.J., who took the greatest pride in proclaiming himself as “a Dravidian from Spain,” passed away, and it is appropriate that Dravidians who want this cultural homeland to be a distinct and independent State should pay their tribute of appreciation and gratitude to one who has proved to the whole world the greatness and superiority of the ancient culture of the Dravidians over that of the Aryans.
Father Heras was born in Spain, but he came to India and adopted it as his homeland, mainly because he found here the home of Dravidian civilization. No one, it may be positively asserted, has done so much for the Dravidian Movement in the realm of culture, as Father Heras.
His monumental work entitled “Proto – Indo – Mediterranean Studies” will ever live in the civilized world as the immortal legacy of this genius who told the truth about Dravidians and exposed the hollowness of the claims made on behalf of Aryans and their civilization. We would like to quote here a passage from an article published in the current issue of the “Tamil Culture,” a quarterly journal of the Academy of Tamil Culture, edited by the great Tamil scholar, Rev. Dr. Xavier, S. Thani Nayagam, of the University of Ceylon. The passage in the article written by Mr. P. Joseph, a former student and collaborator of the “Dravidian from Spain” for a long number of years, runs as follows:-
“………. Another result of his study was the smashing of the Aryan myth. Overwhelming proof came to hand to the effect that the Aryan, a grand extrovert and an uncouth brawny nomad with superior weapons of destruction, blazed a trail of fire and pillage wherever he went, until he was civilized by the brainier man (the Dravidian) who he had subjugated. Then, exercising his shrewdness, he seized the opportunity offered by circumstances to pass off the wonderful things he found – unprecedented material prosperity, excellent literature, highly developed philosophy and advanced religious system – as his own. There was nothing to stop him. The conquered could do nothing about it. And thus started the biggest historical hoax, which it has taken nearly four millennia to expose. Father Heras was quite convinced that, in Vedic and Puranic literature there is vast non-Aryan and pre-Aryan material.”
The Dravidian Movement in South India, for establishing a political homeland for one of the most ancient civilizations of the world, can never be sufficiently grateful to the late Father Heras, for strengthening the intellectual, philosophical and cultural foundation of their mission of liberation from domination and exploitation. Long live the memory of Father Heras in every Dravidian home, and in every Dravidian heart!
(Editorial - 14-06-1959)
