why did lower castes resent Brahmins
Answers
Answer:
Because they are a soft target who serve political interests well. They are too small in number to have any kind of political or economic power.
They are accused of controlling people through religion - but take a look at the number of truly religious people among Hindus in TN who can be thus influenced. They are accused of stealing public money through temple donations - take a look at the composition of temple boards and the chief guests in most temple functions in the state. They are accused of holding others’ progress down by controlling education, but the majority of private schools in TN are missionary run and the pathetic state of public schools is entirely down to the deliberate actions of political parties in power (all of whom are known for brahmin bashing).
The richest caste in TN are the Nadars (who are a traditionally a producing and trading group with a number of Christian groups also included within), the most politically powerful are the Thevars (who are a traditionally ruling/warrior group with multiple roles depending on the sub-castes), the most numerous monolithic caste are the Vanniyars (traditionally a laborer/working group). There are thousands of others. Finally there are the truly oppressed (Dalits who are split into a number of castes as well such as Adi Dravidars, Arundathiyar, Paraiyar etc.).
Dalit power (and unity) has always threatened the three dominant castes above because unlike these, Dalits actually have a strong narrative and claim on bigger share of common resources (such as land and power) due to genuine historical discrimination.
If anyone in government wants to address caste inequity in TN, they should start with secular measures such as land reforms and tribal occupancy rights, drastically improve public education and elect people who can ensure that the castes that control levers of social and economic justice (money, power and effort/labor force) do not continue to legally favour themselves by bashing Brahmins via policy, killing Dalits with physical violence and then claiming victimhood as a reason to allocate a greater share of public resources to themselves through reservations and allocations. By continuing to target religion to tackle what is in essence a secular human problem, this is not going to succeed.