It is an attempt to analyze critically the social reform movement of Kerala. How did the social reform movements in Kerala get narrowed down to caste reformist movements during the 19th and 20th centuries? What was the role of the middle class (belonging to each "upper/intermediate" caste) in the development of community formation in the place of caste society? Similarly, why was it that the so-called reform movements did not analyze the grave problems of poverty, labour, women and Dalits? This study also problematize the living conditions of Dalits during the pre-colonial period as well as the colonial social context of Kerala, and to contextualize and address the emergence of Dalit assertion in Thiruvithamkur (popularly, Travancore) under the leadership of Ayyankali in the social milieu of colonial modernity and the social reform movement of 19th and 20th centuries. Further, the present study tries to enquire into the reasons that fuelled the arrival of Dalit leadership and how this process influenced the public sphere of Kerala. The book also discusses the changes brought about in the social landscape of Kerala by the Dalit assertion that cropped up under the leadership of Ayyankali.