S. Narayan, Dravidian Years, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2018, pp. 2–3

Annadurai was one of the social reformers instrumental in ending the Brahmin domination of Tamil Nadu (then the Madras Presidency). Until the mid-1920s, Brahmin domination in the civil services, education, the judiciary and the Bar, and other avenues of government employment had been absolute. Notwithstanding their minuscule three per cent share in the Tamil population, Brahmins secured fifteen out of sixteen places in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) between 1892 and 1904; held twenty-one of the twenty-seven engineering positions selected through competitive examinations; constituted sixty-seven per cent of those receiving baccalaureate degrees from Madras University; and overwhelmingly dominated the legal fraternity, the judiciary, academia and journalism.