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The resolutions were sent to the Indian National Congress and the Mohammedans' Association on 21st December 1891. In 1896, Reverend John Ratnam and Iyothee Thass jointly started a journal called Dravida Pandian. Another interesting piece of information is that, in 1882, Reverend John Ratnam and Iyothee Thass established a movement under the name of Dravida Kazhagam, (G. Aloysius, Nationalism without a Nation in India, Oxford, 2000); but this fact has been concealed so that no one now remembers Iyothee Thass as the pioneer of the Dravidian movement or anti-Brahmin movement.
After embracing Buddhism, he soon founded 'The Sakya Buddhist Society' in 1898, at Royapettah, Madras. In 1907, he started his journal Oru Paisa Tamilan as an organ of this organisation. From 1907 all his social and religious activities were recorded in the journal until his death on 5 May, 1914. Iyothee Thass had close association with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (an American military officer, who founded the Theosophical Society) and the Theosophical Movement in Adyar. Col. Olcott writes:
The Sakya Buddhist Society's branches were founded not only in Thiruppattur and Vellore in Madras presidency, but were established even overseas, such as in Natal in South Africa, Rangoon and Sri Lanka where Dalits had earlier migrated as labourers. Similarly, the branches of the Sakya Buddhist Society were established in Champion Reefs, Marikuppam, Kolar Gold Fields near Bangalore, then part of the princely state of Mysore, where Dalits had settled as mine workers. The oppressed people saw the colonial rule as an opportunity to come out from the caste oppression. They did not want mere reformation but worked for the annihilation of caste by uprooting the Hindu hegemony through returning to their original religion of Buddhism.
Sakya Buddhist Society started organising regular lectures on Buddhism called Buddha Dhamma Pirasangam (preaching of Buddhism doctrines) in the evenings. These lectures were held until midnight. The office bearers of every branch of the society regularly published reports about the activities of their society in Tamilan. Many intellectuals devoted themselves to spreading the principles of Buddhism under the leadership of Iyothee Thass. Large numbers of people participated in the Buddhist rituals, functions and celebrations. The cultural life of Dalits became Buddhist and Buddhist rituals were practiced in the life events of birth, marriage and funeral. The names of those who converted to Buddhism were also published in Tamilan(24 Aug, 1912). To cite an example of how successful the efforts of the society were, Dalits there got themselves categorised as a separate category of 'Buddhists' in the 1911 Mysore decennial census report.
Iyothee Thass termed the native inhabitants who followed Buddhism as Yatharththa Brahmana (actual Brahmins). Before the invasion of the Aryans, these native Budhdhists were the priests themselves. But the invading Aryans copied some ritual practices (not all) of the native Budhdhists and started to cheat the people out of selfish motives. So they were called Vesha Brahmana (pseudo Brahmins) by Iyothee Thass. He was also very critical of 'non-Brahmin' as a political category. He wondered how, while practicing the tenets of caste-based Hindu rituals, they could claim that they are non-Brahmins.
A Tamil weekly was started on 19th June 1907 bearing the name Oru Paisa Tamilan (after a year the name was changed toTamilan). It was edited, published and owned by Pandit Iyothee Thass. The average circulation of the weekly was 500. TheTamilan is the most renowned journal in Dalit print history because of its rich content and ideology. The four-page weekly was published every Wednesday in tabloid size. He wrote a series of articles on social and religious issues. The journal carried letters to the editor, articles, memoranda, circulars, etc. His activities were focused on reviving and reconstructing Tamil Buddhism among the Tamils.
Iyothee Thass's role in the history of Dalit emancipation is very important. He tried half a century before Ambedkar to interpret history, religion and literature of the Tamils from the point of view of Buddhism which was once popular and prevalent in the south (Aloysius, Nationalism without a Nation in India, p. 58.) Iyothee Thass used many sources for his interpretation like Tamil literature, translations from Pali texts, folk tales, proverbs, colonial data, etc.
Bala J did his Ph.D in Madras Institute of Development Studies on Dalits' Print Culture History. For the last five years he has been working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism, Madurai Kamaraj University.