Mahatma Ayyankali (മഹാത്മ അയ്യൻകാളി; 28 August 1863 – 18 June 1941) was an Indian politician, prominent social reformer, educator, economist, lawmaker, and revolutionary leader.

[2] Members of the Pulayar community generally worked as bonded labor to the Janmis during this time and did not have the right to own land or even enter temples to pray.

[3] The region in which Ayyankali lived, which now forms a part of the state of Kerala, was particularly affected by social divisions during his lifetime and was described as a "mad house" of castes.

[6] Suffering from this social injustice caused Ayyankali to join his Pulayar friends who gathered at the end of their workday to sing and dance to folk music that protested the situation.

[a] A branch of Swamikal's Brahma Nishta Matam, an organisation, was established in that year by Ayyankali and some friends in Venganoor.

Ayyankali also drew inspiration from the activities of Narayana Guru, a contemporary social reformer from the Ezhava caste, although the two men differed in their philosophy and the means of turning it into reality.

[11] The Ezhava and Pulayar communities did ally occasionally with each other on occasions, one of which was the campaign to gain access to the Hindu temple in Vaikom.

[b] Conversion to Christianity was a prerequisite for attendance at such schools, and there were cases where Pulayars offered to contribute to the cost of supplying teachers for them.

[13] State funding of education became effective in 1904[15] but even after the government ordered schools to admit children "untouchable" castes in 1907, local officials found ways to refuse it.

[18][d] Ayyankali was also central to the success of the Pulaya challenge against the traditional strictures that prohibited females of the community from covering their upper body in the public.