Natesa Mudaliar brought in two non-Brahmin priests from Coimbatore and celebrated his daughter's marriage without Brahmin priests as part of the Justice Party's ideology to do house rituals without the Brahmin priests.[2]
In 1912, the Madras United League was formed. Mudaliar was one of the founders of the league and served as its Secretary. The league was largely composed of government employees and concentrated on improving the literacy of non-Brahmins by conducting adult education classes. In November 1912, the Madras United League was renamed as the Madras Dravidian Association and Panaganti Ramarayaningar, later the Raja of Panagal was elected president.
In 1914, while still a medical student in Madras, Natesa Mudaliar established "The Dravidian Home," a hostel for non-Brahmin students. Mudaliar had discovered that caste restrictions prevented non-Brahmins from finding hostel lodging in Madras. In the 2 years that the Home was operational, Mudaliar founded the Dravidian Association with the aim of enhancing non-Brahmin political authority through "Dravidian Upliftment."[3][4]
Mudaliar did not participate in the first general elections in Madras Presidency held in 1920. However, in the 1923 assembly elections, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Council. He had differences with ministers in the Raja of Panagal ministry and often criticized the government.[citation needed] When P. Subbarayan took over as Chief Minister, Mudaliar praised Subbarayan and the Swarajya Arty and appealed for the merger of the Justice Party with the Indian National Congress.[6] At the Non-Brahmin confederation in Coimbatore in 1927, he led the split of the Justice Party into two camps: Ministerialists and Constitutionalists and functioned as the leader of the Constitutionalists until the two groups merged. In 1929, Mudaliar presided over the Justice Party conference in which a resolution was passed facilitating the admission of Brahmins in the party.[citation needed]
In 1933, Mudaliar expressed his support to C. P. Ramaswami Iyer when the latter spoke against casteism and proposed a temple entry law in order to remove restrictions on scheduled castes entering Hindu temples.[citation needed]
Natesan was expected to contest in the 1937 elections to the legislative assembly of Madras but he died suddenly in February 1937 at the age of 62.[citation needed]
Mangalamurugesan, Nataraja Kandasamy (1979). Self-Respect Movement in Tamil Nadu, 1920–1940. Koodal publishers. p. 134.