1

INSIDE INSIGHT
Contents Pages

EDITORIAL
Writing caste 3

CASTE SPECIAL
♦DEWAR: The Caste and Its Identity: Sudhir Kumar Behera 5
♦Silence and forgetting in Nair India: Lakshmi Kutty 7
♦Notes on my Brahmin Self: S. Anand 9
♦Goudas: A symbol of unity among the Dalitbahujans: Chalamalla Venkateshwarlu 14
♦So far from where we started: Ahmad Suhaib Siddiqui 15
♦Nepal: Reclaiming traditions from the Brahmins: Suresh Singh 16
♦DALIT versus CASTE: Anoop Kumar Singh 18
♦You can’t know caste until you’ve known a Dalit: Shamuel Tharu 20
♦Learning to speak together: Kumar Anand 23
♦The Classical debate continues: Samata Biswas 25

COLUMNS

♦Our Icon: Ayyankali: A Pioneer. A Revolutionary. A Hero. 28

♦Voices: Bhikari Thakur - Shakespeare of Bihar 33
♦Navayana: Who is the Buddha? 37
♦Book Reviews 39
♦Letters with Insight 41
♦Our Achievers 43

IN DEBATE
♦Dance Bars Ban Debate: Dalit Bahujan Women’s stand point: Kunda Pramilani 44
♦Exposing the limits of modern caste discourse: Lakshmi Kutty 49
♦Locating Dalits in the “Annihilation of Caste”: Moggallan Bharti 51

COMMENTARY
♦Affirmative Action in Private Sector: Dr. Nand Kishor More 55
♦A Cherished Dream: Common School System: Mormukut Suman 56

2
 EDITORIAL

Writing caste
Welcome back. The Editorial Collective apologizes for the inordinate delay in bringing out this
issue as most of the team was away on vacation. Added to this was the difficult nature of this
issue of Insight. Over the last few months, we have found that it is extremely difficult to get
people, both Dalit and non-Dalit to write about their castes. We found time and again
contributors approaching the issue in the third person, distancing themselves from what they
experienced.
We had a sense of this when we began Insight. In fact this is one of the main reasons why we
began Insight: To get people, both Dalits and non-Dalits to introspect upon their experiences of
caste.
Despite the difficulties we have been fortunate to get a wide range of people writing about their
caste and how it functions in their lives. These narratives are far from complete documentations.
But they are a beginning, a drop in the ocean. And some of them are brilliantly insightful
allowing us to question both how we think about caste and the way forward for the Dalit
movement.
The even more exciting part of putting this issue together was learning about Ayyankali. His
personality, his courage, his far-sightedness and his determination still makes our hair stand on
end as we write of it. It is his birth anniversary on August 28 and the Ambedkar Study Circle is
very excited about the possibilities this opportunity presents to popularize the life and thought of
Ayyankali. Although Insight itself is not an advocate of violent change, knowledge of such a
hero steadies our hand and straightens our backs.
Over the last few months, Insight has been in spirited debates with many young scholars. One of
the important issues that were raised was that of the way forward for the movement. It has been
suggested in one of the articles that the Annihilation of Caste should be the driving slogan of the
movement. While not disagreeing with this claim at a macro-level, Insight believes that such a
claim is utopian at the micro-level.
Looking at successful Dalits movements across the country, be it the jatavas in UP, the mahars
in Maharashtra, or the dewars in Orissa, we have found that mobilization among Dalits in most
parts of the county is occurring on caste lines. This may be a dangerous trend but as is elaborated
in Sudhir Kumar Behera’s article, that after having mobilized on caste lines to protect their
livelihood and traditions and sense of self, the dewars are now seeking alliances with other Dalit
movements across the country.
Starting out with an annihilation of caste agenda also leads to a lack of plurality within the
movement. Already established movements on caste lines feel undermined by Unitarian
movements usually lead by the most populous Dalit caste in a region.
We must emphasize here that all attempts made to consolidate schedule castes and tribes with
women, minorities, industrial labour and agricultural labour are commendable and worthy of
unstinting support. We would also like to say however, that this should not come at the risk of
undermining any Dalit movement in the country.

3
The way forward is full of hurdles and obstacles and it is dangerous if we use quotations from
anyone, even Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar, to sideline Dalit grassroots movements. The Buddha
himself has said, as Santhosh Raut emphasizes in Navayana: “Find your own path”. This is the
truth. We will do well to recognize it. Shared experience of Dalits is so unique and powerful that
we should not be afraid that strengthening of identities will affect long-term unity both within
our selves and with other oppressed sections of society.
We have also begun the process of registering the Ambedkar Study Circle as a charitable
organization in order to register Insight formally. Any suggestions in this regard are welcome.
With apologies again for the delay in publication, we hope you find this issue as interesting as it
was to put together.

Jai Bheem!

EDITORS’ NOTE

Dikus were the non-tribal money lenders, petty shopkeepers, forest contractors and brahmins
who were party to the colonial exploitation of the forests. It was against this category of the
people that Birsa Munda led his struggle.
We at INSIGHT have felt for a long while that all the categorizations surrounding caste has
privileged the caste hindus. Whether calling them brahmins (born of the head of brahma), or
caste hindu, or dwija (twice born) we found that we were unable to accuse them publicly
(etymologically to categorize means to accuse publicly) of their exploitative history.
It is with this word diku that it all falls into place. The word is expressive of the caste hindus
parasitic nature, practices of usury and scant regard for nature.
We have been using the word diku to denote caste-hindus except when we are talking about
specific divisions within them, since our January issue.

4
 DEWAR: The Caste and Its Identity
It gives me the mixture of pleasures and pains
to write about my caste-DEWAR and the path
it has experienced in the socio-economic
spheres of Indian society and economy.
Pleasure, of course, is due to an opportunity to
write on my own community, and pain,
because my community is placed in the
disadvantaged position even today.
Like other castes and communities, Dewar
caste has its own history and way of life. Like
other vulnerable groups and low castes, it has
been the victim of social, cultural, economic
and political exclusion in the reality of rural
India. At the same time it has been actively
struggling to preserve its identity and culture
and to stake its legitimate claim on the nation’s
available resources.
Dewar caste (also known as ‘Kaibarta’) is
specifically referred to the fishing
communities, who live near coastal areas.
Dewars are located in different coastal parts of
Orissa and some other parts of Tamil Nadu
with different sub-castes. The present article
primarily deals with the Dewars of Orissa,
though it has highlighted some of the problems
of Dewars in other parts of India. Fishing is
the primary livelihood of these people. Besides
fishing, they are often seen to get engaged in
cultivation and as wage labour.
Preserving Culture
Dewar caste has its own folk cultures, which
are popularly known as “Chaiti Parva” and
“Chaitighoda Nacha” (Horse Dance). Though
the two festivals are organized in the same
month, they are quite unique in their own
sphere. In this era of modern dance and pop
culture, the traditional culture of this low caste
community is still deeply entrenched in the
rural India.
5
Sudhir Kumar Behera
Chaiti Parva is organized in the full moon
night in the month of Chaitra (the first Oriya
month which falls in the month of April). This
is the major festival of Kaibartas which is
celebrated with much fanfare and rejoices.
They get to forget their daily-sorrows and get
actively engaged in enjoying the momentary
pleasures.
Performing “Daanga Puja” (worshiping
Boats) respects the age-old culture of Dewars.
This puja is considered as one of the
alternatives to the brahmincal supremacy, that
helps them to worship their boats by
themselves and they do not require any
brahmin to do that. Another significance of
“Daanga Puja” is that it brings unity among
Kaibartas, who unitedly perform it with their
traditional classical songs.
Chaiti Ghoda Naacha is the folk dance of
Kaibatas’ which is observed in the honour of
their caste deity Vaseli Devi. A wooden horse,
well-dressed and made up in variety of colours
is taken as the idol of the Devi. There is a
horse rider who is called sipahi. The Ghoda
Natcha requires a Gayak, a Rout (a male
dancer and singer) and a Routani (female
dancer and singer) besides dholia and mahuria
(a person who beats drum and plays flute
respectively).
Their combined effort gives a lot of pleasures
and attracts a large audience. The festival
brings unity among Kaibartas and makes them
determined to preserve the identity of
Kaibartakula (Kaibrata Community). This
month-long festival ends with the Munda Kata
(Immersion of the idol) which is generally
held in Behera Daanda (in front of the house
of the head of the community).
Interaction with Other Dalit Castes
The interconnections among Dalit castes in
rural Orissa are unfortunately very poor. They
are more confined to their own caste and
community. They have little sense of
togetherness among Dalits which often leads
to the isolation of one caste from others. Each
caste feels discriminated in the hands of dikus
in their own ways, but at the same time they
are not seen to have interaction among other
like-minded discriminated castes to unitedly
fight the caste oppression.
There are reasons for this low level of
interaction among Dalits. These are: lack of
education, lack of mobilization and more
importantly lack of Dalit-related Social
Movements in Orissa.
About Ambedkarite Movements
Again due to the lack of education and
mobilization and movements, Dewars, like
other Dalit castes in Orissa are little informed
about Ambedkarite movements. These people
are engaged with their own struggle which is
no less significant than Ambedkarite
movements, but having no networks with any
Dalit-Ambedkarite Movements. It is
unfortunate but real that, most of these people
have little knowledge on Dr. Ambedkar and
his identity and contribution towards Dalit’s
development.
Their Struggles and Challenges
From the very beginning Kaibartas have been
engaged in the movements to claim their
legitimate rights, though as it is mentioned on
the above paragraph that they have little
knowledge on Ambedkar and Ambedkarite
Movements. It is noteworthy to mention that
the dikus have till date, been attempting to
subvert the identity and livelihood of Dewars
by interrupting their fishing.
They just want to drive out Dewars from
fishing in the rivers and claim the rivers as
theirs. This strong force has been a great
6
challenge for Dewars. This is nonetheless a
movement for Dewars. But fortunately they
have not let their rights be taken away in any
way.
Kaibarta Mahaasangha, a devoted
institutional mechanism of Kaibartas, is
actively engaged in the interest of Kaibartas.
This has become movement for these low
caste people.
But the problem is that no other Dalit sub-
caste has so far come forward in the defense of
the Kaibartas. It is largely, as it is mentioned
else where in the article, because of the lack of
interaction among Dalits in rural Orissa. They
feel isolated in their long-standing movement.
Nor are other Dalits seen to have shown
solidarity with these people.
Besides the discrimination from the upper
castes, these fishing communities have been
the victims of all natural disasters, whether it
was the Super Cyclone in Orissa in October
1999 or Tsunami killer in most parts of South
Indian states in December 26, 2004. What is
more unfortunate is the practice of
discrimination in the post-disaster scenario
that treats these fishing communities as a
polluted people.
Not only these people are discriminated by
their country men and rulers, the foreign ruler
does not even spare them. These fishing
communities are often arrested by foreign
authorities when they cross their country’s
border.
Need for an Inclusive Approach
Our aim is to remove caste discrimination and
the social oppression our people have been
facing. At the same time it can be argued that,
this cannot be achieved unless we eliminate all
discrimination of all Dalits in all areas. For
this there is a greater need to make an
inclusive approach which will help us include
all types of sufferings of all Dalits into a single
network. Any challenge posed to any Dalit
caste is to be treated as a challenge to the a Dalit movement as well so as to preserve the
whole Dalit community and its identity. identity of Dalits. For this there is need for a
larger consensus among Dalits. The entries of
Of course Dewars have so far not let any
devoted groups as well as people other than
forces (both external and internal) to subvert
the Dalits are most welcome.
their identities and culture despite many
sufferings. But the future of their struggle is
likely to yield little success unless this is
joined by other Dalit groups. In other words,
there is a great need for making the struggle of
Dewars a full-fledged Dalit movement.
Not only this struggle, but any struggle of any Note: The words ‘Dewar’ and ‘Kaibarta’ have
of the Dalit community must be recognized as been used inter changeably in this paper.

Sudhir Kumar Behera is pursuing his Mphil in the Centre for Political Studies (CPS), JNU,
Delhi

Silence and forgetting in Nair India

Lakshmi Kutty

I've grown up in an extremely caste-silent mandatory four-fold caste-system

family and extended social scene. By caste- classification I learnt in textbooks, and which
silent I mean that what caste we were, what signified discriminatory practices. So it was
our neighbors' or friends' caste backgrounds quite in order that I thought 'caste' existed in
were, differences in ritual or interactive worlds other than mine, where people were
aspects between various castes, general tradition-bound and conservative.
statements about 'caste oppression in rural
I knew I was a malayali nair, but I never knew
areas', comments on news articles discussing
what my caste meant socially. I was quite
caste, etc., rarely found a place in home
proud of the fact that I didn’t know any deeper
conversations. Then, of course, there weren’t
than that; wasn't it proof that there was no
many occasions where there was enough
caste in my modern life and outlook? I even
interest for opinions or discussions around
remember being excited at one point when I
caste to emerge, mostly because we mixed and
figured out that in south India, we didn’t have
moved with others of our kind and didn’t stray
the same caste system that was taught to us as
too far.
'the Indian caste system'!
Most of my school and college experience has
I remember feeling happy that the community
also been similarly devoid of any interest or
divisions of us southies did not correspond to
awareness viz-a-viz caste. Except for the

7
what was commonly understood and accepted
as the four-varna caste system... which was a
largely north and central India categorization.
At that time, this for me was a subversion of
the highest order!!!
This is not to say that attitudes/knowledge
regarding caste hasn’t operated at all in my
making-unmaking. The silence is of a peculiar
nature, it has its own codes and its own
language of expression. Looking back now, I
think it is characteristic of a well-settled
middle class, 'high' caste family to inculcate
this silence and disavowal about caste within
its immediate social sphere; surnames of
friends, fathers' names, people's hometowns,
their food habits, these were regular
conversation tidbits at home, but 'no, never
caste'!
Most of my relatives and friends who come
from similar caste-class backgrounds share
this peculiar silence. I say peculiar silence
because it did not insist on intricate knowledge
and visible observance of one's caste location
and corresponding behaviors/attitudes (except,
maybe, with marriage), but it was opinionated
enough against challenges to the status quo
(read, 'the general good') posed by struggles
against caste hierarchy and oppression, like,
say, with reservations.
Also, knowledge of or engagement with one's
caste status/location is unimportant to those of
us who are situated at the centre of things, and
are socialized and treated like that. I remember
a Malayali school friend of mine becoming
extremely worried that we would stop talking
to her after some exchange of school
documents among us made us all aware of
each other's caste and of her OBC status. I
seriously couldn’t fathom at that time why she
was so tensed that after 3 years of intense
group bonding the rest of us would turn
against her. I remember that the rest of us
didn’t even know what OBC meant exactly
and why it would come between us. But this
8
friend knew; her caste status would not allow
for that knowledge to be absent from her life.
Apart from my caste status, and my nearly
homogenous social interactions, sometimes I
think that being in a metro like Mumbai might
have something to do with the silence around
questions of caste in conversations and
socializing, because the promise of this city is
in the non-markedness of specifics and in the
global oneness that it offers.
When I learnt that technically nairs also
belonged among the 'untouchable' castes in
Kerala, I was initially shocked at how I had
never known this from within my family space
and had picked it up from an academic
presentation. But on second thoughts, why
would this information be relayed through and
within nair families at all?!
Identity marking at least among the one local
nair community in Mumbai that I'm familiar
with is heavily invested in situating the nairs'
central presence in the religio-cultural history
of not only Kerala, but also the nation (?) at
large.
Last year, for the first time, their annual
Ayyappa procession took a longer detour
through a Marathi-speaking community's fairly
old wayside shrine dedicated to Gaondevi with
walls plastered with photos of Durga, Kali and
Shiva!
Of late, during our 'native place' visits to
Thrissur, Kerala, I've been coming across
several instances of coded caste practice,
which because they didn’t seem open
prohibitions to my eye I've never recognized
earlier. It was only recently that I heard my
grandmother lament that now even the lower
castes are participating in the village temple's
annual festival, and what's more, are collecting
door-to-door funds as they want to be one of
the many groups who sponsor firecrackers for
the festival!!!
This in a house where all the workers were
lower caste and I as a child was never told to
stay away or not hang out with them/their
children. A visit to our neighbouring
namboodiri (Brahmin) family saw everyone
grieving at the loss of a high caste
bathing/washing space (the temple pond),
which of late had been taken over by workers
and their families who bathed and washed
their clothes and made the pond dirty.
As we left their house, my father told me how
years ago he and his family used to be served
tea in separate tumblers in this house, which
Lakshmi Kutty is a fellow at Sarai, Delhi and is currently assisting Forum against
Oppression of Women in the rapid survey on Working Women in Dance Bars of Mumbai
Notes on my Brahmin Self
I was born a Tamil-brahmin (of the iyengar
caste) and had my upbringing mostly in
Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh.
My early upbringing was under the totalizing
spell of the Tamil-brahmin sub-culture—in
terms of language, food, circle of friends,
aesthetics—so much that my access to other
social worlds was cut off by sheer prejudice
nurtured by the family.
An extended spell of hostel life since
graduation helped me escape familial
colonialism, but I carried with me all the
unearned privileges and the earned prejudices
of a brahmin birth. College and university life
(1990-1997) exposed me to a burgeoning
student Dalit movement in the post-Ambedkar
centenary phase, though I did not make
immediate sense of Mandal or the
Ambedkarite movement.
9
they had to wash and keep separately after
their use, and how ironic it was that today time
has brought them to include him their pond-
loss lament!!!
These experiences of my socialization point
out that identifying caste practice in only
certain typical ways blinds the eye to a whole
gamut of religio-cultural behavior and
hierarchies that are actually deeply embedded
in rules of caste difference. And this feeds the
silence around caste, mine or another's, which
then reiterates the belief that caste does not
exist in our practices and outlooks.
S. Anand
While working on my Mphil, with the English
Department of University of Hyderabad, I took
up my first journalistic job—as a subeditor—
with Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, in 1996. I
literally walked into the job, unaware of the
fact of how brahmin privilege works in
unstated ways.
While on my first job, I acquired some
political and cultural perspective on the several
‘caste issues’ I faced in university life, and in
my own life, on reading Kancha Ilaiah’s Why I
am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of
Hindutva, Philosophy, Culture and Political
Economy (Samya, 1996).
I wrote a full-page review of the work in
Deccan Chronicle, which I began by
introducing myself as a brahmin, quite like
Ilaiah foregrounds his shudra-OBC identity. I
then discovered the writings of Ambedkar.
Around the time, my marriage to my non-
brahmin partner also caused a rupture in my
caste self, and forced a rethink on my own
undying brahmanism.
I began writing occasionally on caste in
Deccan Chronicle, and also commissioned
others to write, and this did not necessarily
mean writing about Dalits. The fact that I was
a born-brahmin enabled me to express a few
anti-brahmin ideas with ease.
Starting 1998, I was with the copydesk of The
Indian Express, Chennai, for a year where I
did manage a few analytical pieces on caste
against several odds. I was still not a reporter.
In 1999, I joined the brahmin-dominated desk
of The Hindu. I had always considered The
Hindu as my last option since my grandmother
used to say after I completed my M.A., “Wear
a namam [a caste mark worn on the forehead],
and tell them you belong to such and such
iyengar subcaste; who knows we may be
related to The Hindu editors! They will
certainly give you a job.”
I was utterly embarrassed by this frank advice,
but also knew that there was truth in this claim
since The Hindu had a fair share of namam
journalists. After circumstances forced me to
quit The (New) Indian Express, when I did
seek employment with The Hindu, I did not
use the caste card like my grandmother would
have wanted me to, but I do realize one’s
brahmin-ness is not necessarily or always
inscribed on one’s forehead or caste tag
(which I did not bear).
The advantages of being born in the ‘right
caste’, I think, equally helped me with my
other jobs, as also in other spheres in my life,
sometimes without my even being aware of
these advantages.
Since mid-2001 I have been working as the
Chennai correspondent of the weekly
Outlook—my first reporting job. Here, to my
own surprise, I have had greater success in
10
writing occasional analytical articles and
news-reports on brahmin hegemony than in
writing about oppression of Dalits. Again, my
being a non-Dalit, a born-brahmin, has, I
think, enabled me in several invisible ways.
Perhaps this has partly enabled a tolerant
reception to some views extremely critical of
brahmins in a mainstream media forum.
After marriage, I moved away from my
parents in Hyderabad, to Chennai in 1998 and
exposure to the mostly debrahminised (yet
strangely anti-Dalit) Tamil political and
intellectual cultures heightened my
brahminical guilt and pressured me to
seriously rescript my sense of the ‘personal’—
this was almost a conversion sans a formal
change of religion. This primarily involved
two issues.
Unlearning the brahminised variation of Tamil
that I spoke: Tamil-brahmins speak a Tamil
that is markedly different from that of non-
brahmins; it carries a heavy dose of sanskritic
influence. I speak, read and write Telugu as
well; and though Telugu brahmins sometimes
have a stylistic inflection distinct from non-
brahmin Telugus, they do not attempt to
fundamentally change the language like Tamil
brahmins tend to do.
Within Tamil Nadu, given the penetrative
thrust of the Periyarite non-brahmin
movement, some brahmins self-consciously
use a slightly debrahminised variation in their
public sphere–usage while relapsing into the
unselfconscious comfort of a brahminical
register in the domestic sphere.
Several brahmins do not even bother to effect
such a switchover and unabashedly speak a
brahminised Tamil all the time. However,
increasingly in Tamil Nadu today, with the
non-brahmins seeking to imitate the
brahminical register, certain brahminical
modes of expression have crept into the non-
brahminised mode of speaking.
Being born and bred outside Tamil Nadu, I
had never really been exposed to the non-
brahmin way(s) of speaking Tamil.
The only Tamil I knew was what my parents
and circle of relatives made available to me. In
Chennai, with active support from my wife,
who belongs to the land-owing Tamil shudra
community of gounders (classified as OBC),
and a few other friends, I gradually weeded
out the brahminical expressions I was prone to.
After six months of conscious efforts, I could
speak a decent, non-brahminised Tamil. Even
then, the brahminical Tamil embedded in my
subconscious would occasionally slip out and
cause me embarrassment. This continues to
happen, but rather infrequently these days
since my interaction with the brahmin
community now is almost negligible, given
that I am estranged from my family and
relations.
The second crucial change effected in my
personal self was with respect to food habits.
The family I was born into ate only vegetarian
food. Egg, boiled, was a rare indulgence, that
too as a dietary supplement since I played
tennis during my childhood. This too had to be
done secretively by my mother without my
grandparents coming to know of it. I knew
how to cook, partly because I helped my
mother, and handled kitchen duties whenever
she menstruated.
After marriage, it was I who cooked and was
in charge of the kitchen. In our early days in
Chennai, when my partner sought to eat meat,
mostly chicken, she would buy it from hotels.
At her behest, I used to try it occasionally, but
did not enjoy the taste.
Since I approached the issue politically, I
understood that my inability to appreciate the
taste of meat owed not to an inherent, ‘natural’
repugnance to it, but rather to the fact of my
lack of exposure to its taste. For the first
eighteen years of my life, my tongue had been
colonized by vegetarian home food.
11
In my six years of hostel life, I was too
conservative and brahminical to have tried
meat. Most crucially, I was not politically
conscious those days. Not liking the idea of
my partner having to buy oily meat from
hotels, I decided that I would at least cook it at
home. Soon, I began tasting it.
Over the years, I have come to really enjoy it
and realize what I had been missing all these
years. What really got me hooked to the taste
of meat was my liking for kebabs—burnt
mutton. (In 2003, I also savoured succulent
beef kebabs at Bade Miyan in Mumbai thanks
to my friend Sharmila)
Since 2001, I have turned quite a decent meat-
eater. Yet, non-brahmin friends would point to
how I am a bit clumsy in my inability to clean
up the bones dry. Today, we cook mutton,
beef, all kinds of seafood and chicken at home.
I have not yet conquered pork, though I love
bacon the way it is served continental style.
Eating meat should hardly be considered a
means of running away from one’s brahminic
identity. Historically, the brahmins consumed
all kinds of meat—including beef. Pulao made
of veal (tender calf) was a delicacy served to
the guests during the vedic period. It was only
Buddhism that forced the brahmins to swing to
the other extreme and give up on meat
altogether.
Just as my Dalit friends who rediscover and
revert to Buddhism, and hence turn vegetarian,
are not ceasing to be Dalits by refusing to eat
meat, I would not cease to be a brahmin my
merely eating meat. It is not a certificate of
progressiveness or regressiveness. But when
the choice of not eating or not eating certain
foods is not based on self-made decisions but
based on irrationally inherited caste culture,
then as rational human beings we need to
rethink and question the same.
Why this conscious effort at making, and now
marking, these changes in my personal self?
Do I want to pass for a non-brahmin? Does
one cease to be a brahmin just by speaking a
different register and by eating different kinds
of food?
I have seen several brahmins in the modern,
urban context assuming progressive
postures—as liberals, marxists, feminists,
poststructuralists, radicals of various hues.
These are largely public postures. In the
private sphere, they tend to remain true to their
castes.
They tend to marry within caste (even
accidentally falling in love with a person of the
same caste), sometimes even go through
traditional marriage rituals and justify it as
meant to satisfy parents/ relations, they even
indulge in some rituals for the dead, and they
continue to eat what they have been used to
eating.
In the personal sphere, the language of
modernity takes a backseat and the premodern
caste self is allowed a free reign. In other
words, not much changes in their personal
lives. My fundamental problem was: how can
one don a progressive hat in public and
continue to indulge in practices inflected by
one’s caste in the personal realm? How can
one be modern and feudal at the same time?
I was convinced that the personal and political
had to be made compatible and
complementary. I could not be someone who
keenly engaged with Ambedkar’s ideas,
interacted with the Dalit movement, benefited
a lot intellectually from my interactions with
Dalit and non-brahmin friends, and yet keep
intact a brahminical core.
Not that a conscious rescripting of the
‘personal’ makes me cease to be a brahmin.
For all effective purposes, I shall remain one. I
cannot erase the unearned privileges being
born in this caste have given me. I believe
caste will continue to function for me not as an
originary identity but as a social location that I
cannot often exit. Since both the identitarian
and hierarchical aspects of caste function in a
12
relational, relative sense, I cannot individually
cease to be a brahmin.
I cannot annihilate my identity as a brahmin
unless all individuals belonging to all castes
begin to do so. Who I am will continue to be
defined in relation to what others are. Of late, I
have come to be deeply skeptical about my
brahminhood as an originary identity. Castes
are essentially maintained by patriarchy.
My father and grandfather (father’s father)
claimed that we belong(ed) to the ‘Kousika
gotra’. Kousika is another name for
Vishwamitra, the mythical sage who figures in
the Hindu myth Ramayana. Vishwamitra, a
kshatriya by birth, aspires to be a brahmin, a
brahma-rishi (super-brahmin) in fact. The
brahmins, led by brahma-rishi Vashishta,
resent Vishwamitra’s aspirations.
Today, I see the entire Vishwamitra story in
the light of my reading of Ambedkar,
especially his ‘Revolution and Counter-
Revolution in Ancient India’ (see Dr
Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches,
Vol. 3, pp 151–440, especially Chapter 15
titles ‘Brahmins Versus Kshatriyas’ pp. 392–
415).
Ambedkar describes Vishwamitra as someone
who was ‘anxious to become a brahmin’.
Vishwamitra was probably someone who was
the first to question the birthright of the
brahmins to be the interpreters of the vedas
and sanskritic knowledge that the brahmins
monopolised. He goes on to overcome the
various obstacles that Vashishta and other
brahmins throw in his path and finally
becomes brahma-rishi.
If my father, grandfather, great grandfather
and so on trace their lineage—their gotra—
from this mythical Vishwamitra, then by
default they are admitting to having had non-
brahmin origins. The Vishwamitra story is of
course myth, not history, but since most Indian
history is spiked with a heavy dose of myths,
we have to give such myths some credence,
especially since identities claimed today are
based on sustaining and believing in such
myths.
What I am saying here could of course be
interpreted a clever, brahminical way of trying
to claim a ‘non-brahmin’ origin for myself!
Far from it. The myth/story has not been
completely told. If Vishwamitra is being
discussed, how can Menaka be forgotten?
This dancer from heaven should have been the
devadasi equivalent of those mythical days.
Vashishta and his cohorts are supposed to have
sent Menaka to distract Vishwamitra from the
meditation/ penance he had undertaken to
become brahma-rishi.
In what comes in storybooks, and even TV
serial interpretations, Menaka dances an ‘item
number’ and seduces Vishwamitra (on TV
Meenakshi Seshadri as Menaka seduced N.T.
Rama Rao who played Vishwamitra’s
character).
Menaka bears Vishwamitra’s child as well.
What is the guarantee that the patriarchal
lineage that my father traces does not lead to
Menaka? I could well claim to be a Menaka-
putra!
If Vishwamitra could be ‘tempted’ by Menaka,
how many men, over several generations, in
such a patriarchal clan, might not have been
tempted by various women? Similarly,
brahmin women could have had affairs with
non-brahmins. What about my mother’s gotra?
Before she married my father she claimed to
belong to ‘Koundinya gotra’ of her father. But
the patriarchal marriage system changed her
gotra to my father’s. What about my father’s
mother’s originary gotra?
If women have to always lose their father’s
gotra with marriage, how reliable can these
gotra lineages be? Besides, when we can be
definitive only about motherhood and since
patriarchy is largely inferential, why should
we believe patriarchal lineages? Where would
all this lead brahmins? How far should we dig?
My contention is that all stories/ myths/ beliefs
about caste identities can similarly be
interrogated and demolished. Caste—and the
caste system—sustains itself not because there
has not been enough miscegenation. There
should have been several inter-caste affairs
and marriages in history; yet the newly
emergent miscegenated groups are fitted into
some caste or the other.
Sometimes, new castes were created, new
myths/stories woven. While Vishwamitra, a
non-brahmin, upgraded himself, some castes
would have been degraded. After all,
Ambedkar, and before him Iyothee Thass in
Tamil Nadu, had argued that today’s
untouchables were former Buddhists.
From brahmin to Dalit, there cannot be any
‘pure’ castes. Yet, in the given moment, caste
identity operates strongly and effectively as a
social category. Therefore, I could
theoretically have had non-brahmin origins,
but what matters today is my brahmin identity
and the benefits and privileges that have
accrued to me from it. My brahmin identity
today is as real as a Dalit’s identity is.
Several brahmins are uneasy indulging in such
a reflective exercise. Many pretend that caste
does not matter for them. Some see no point in
such an exercise. Some think they have risen
beyond caste. In the contemporary context,
Dalits and other ‘lower’ castes are being made
to bear the burden of caste; as if caste exists
only in them. It is time brahmins and other
privileged castes started reflecting upon their
own caste selves.

S. Anand is the Chennai-based Special Correspondent of Outlook newsmagazine. He is

also the cofounder of Navayana Publishing

13
 Goudas: A symbol of unity among the Dalitbahujans
I belong to Gouda (Toddy Tapper) caste
(OBC). It is everywhere in India, but it is
better -known in the Telangana region of
Andhra Pradesh. Goudas have been tapping
toddy for ages. In rural villages of Telangana,
every Dalitbahujan community and upper-
caste (Reddy, Velama, and Kammas)
consumes toddy.
Of course, other upper-castes also drink. I
know this is good for health, where as liquor is
very much harmful to the health. My caste is
very much closely related all Dalitbahujan
communities (Dalit, kummari, kammari,
yadava, sala, dhobi etc) in the villages. Some
times Goudas are also untouchables.
The upper-caste brahmins and banias do not
touch our caste people in the villages. They do
not drink or even smell them. In case they
walk into the street early in the morning, we
must not be seen on the roads. Sometimes they
shout at us.
They call us by names ‘Chandaluda, why
come in front of me, go away’. And yet they
consume our Munjas (coming from toddy tree,
very cool in summer).
I studied at a village school in a place called
Pedda Nagaram in Warangal district of
Telangana. Before that I studied in my
grandmother’s village, Komatipally. In that
village, lived a number of brahmin families.
They do not allow us to study Sanskrit. That
is the only school in the village.
My grandmother requested brahmin priests
and finally they agreed but they said that I
should not sit by the side of brahmins. I had
Chalamalla Venkateshwarlu is a research scholar in Osmania University, Hyderabad and
works for BODHI-Centre for Adivasi Dalit Bahujan Initiatives
14
Chalamalla Venkateshwarlu
studied at that school for three years. After
completion of 4th class, I went to another
government school in Chetlamupparam seven
kilometers away, a large distance to walk for a
child.
The village of Komatipally has an agrahara
(temple located outskirts of the village given
by the villagers to the brahmins) of brahmin
families. About 20 families are living in the
village. The village structure, customs and
traditions are totally controlled by brahmins
priests.
The temple is located at
Laxminarasimhaswamy close to a small pond.
The brahmins regularly conduct pujas. No
other castes can perform their pujas in this
temple. Sometimes, the brahmins perform
pujas for the OBC castes, but they are not
allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum at all.
When we went to their well to have water they
warned us not to do so.
One day all the communities celebrated the
Bathukammapanduga (famous in the
Telengana region because of its spectacle of
women singing and dancing around
Bathukamma). All the upper-caste hindus and
OBC castes celebrated the event. When the
Dalits entered to put their Bathukamma, the
dikus attacked them.
Dalits filed a case against the brahmins and
OBCs. The Dalits did not compromise on the
case and they won. Today all the Dalits and
OBC castes participate in the bathukamma
panduga. I can’t forget that the event till
today.
 So far from where we started
Division is another name of decline and
disintegration. People divided, especially on
material lines, pose insurmountable threat to
their own existence and cause untold miseries
to the disadvantaged among them.
Indian society is one of the best examples
where divisive forces pushed a major section
of people into perpetual slavery. Let us see
what the divisive forces are in Muslim society
and what is the true Islamic teaching in this
context.
“You all are children of Adam and Adam was
made of clay” was the most glorious and
fascinating statement for equality, fraternity
and brotherhood, upon which a Muslim
society is supposed to be based.
The last prophet declared in no-confusing
tone, “Your reality is clay that is trodden under
feet, so you are supposed to be humble and
down to earth”. So the resultant society should
be classless, casteless, with no place for
discrimination, division or inequality.
But, in reality, Muslim society in India is
divided into an unending series of classes and
castes.
Muslims at the dawn of their civilization were
much less divided and class divisions were not
very sharp. In later periods, with expansion
came prosperity, accompanied with varied
factors that compelled people to become
Ahmad Suhaib Siddiqui is pursuing his MA in Centre for Arabic and African Studies, JNU
15
Ahmad Suhaib Siddiqui
organized into various formations both under
coercion and voluntarily.
When Muslims first came to India in
considerable numbers, with the invasions from
the North West, they were generally divided
into two classes, Ashraf or nobility and
commoners.
Economic and commercial activities expanded
and varied skills and processes were required
to fulfill diverse needs. People indulged in
these activities and came to be recognized with
their specific social or economic activity
performed in society, like Teli, Gujjar, Kasai
etc.
Conversion took place and most hindus
entered Islam with their castes and customs.
More significantly they were accorded
generally the same positions or status in
society that they earlier held, with a few
exceptions, where caste elimination was itself
a goal, as in the case of Sayyid Ahmad
Sarhind.
In a matter of a few Centuries, Muslims lost
their much cherished equality and were
divided into different castes and classes but
never in so rigid a manner as was the case in
Hinduism. Today, we have more or less one
hundred castes and sub-castes like Quraishi,
Teli, Dhumia, Siddiqui, Khan etc.
Nepal: Reclaiming traditions from the Brahmins
My name is Suresh Singh. I’m a Nepali Dalit.
Among the Nepali Dalits, there are three
distinct types: - Hill Dalit, Newar Dalit, and
Tarai Dalit. I belong to Hill Dalits who are
divided into jaats (castes).
These are: 1. Kami – Sunar (goldsmith),
Tamta (coppersmith), Lohar (ironsmith),
Chunaro (carpenter), Od (mason), and Parki
(bamboo worker). 2. Sarki (leather worker). 3.
Damai (musician and tailor). 4. Gaine (bard,
and singer). 5. Badi (village entertainers-
dancers, etc).
These jaats are vertically arranged. The lowest
are regarded as untouchable by the higher
jaats. Unlike in Nepal, in Sikkim and
Darjeeling, Damai is considered a higher jaat
than a Sarki.
I belong to a Kami jaat that is divided into
more than 110 clans. A thar is taken to be a
sub-caste, which is flexible depending on the
nature of occupation such as Sunar, Tamta, etc
that a family follows or said to have followed.
Here thar loses its meaning as a sub-caste
while in diku jaats a thar is a sub-caste.
So in my jaat, thar means a clan for some
clans and to some it is associated with the
nature of occupation. Clan members are
regarded as brothers and no matrimonial
relation is allowed among them. Seen in the
historical and social context, any tagadhari
(wearers of holy-thread) marrying a Dalit girl
is degraded to his wife’s jaat but retains his
clan.
In the various kingdoms of Nepal and after the
Gorkha conquest in 1768 AD, a bahun
16
Suresh Singh
(brahman) was punished with degradation of
jaat for the crimes otherwise punished with a
death sentence such as murder, incest, revolt
or conspiracy against the state, sex or marriage
with an untouchable, accepting cooked rice
and pulse from the hands or from the kitchen
of an untouchable and even for accepting
water, etc.
This resulted in the fact that the Kamis now
share more than 67 clans with the Bahun, and
about 6 clans with Thakuri and Khasa Chhetris
(Kshatriya). These clans in Nepal are called
Mijhars.
There are another group of clans numbering
about 34 such as Ramdam/Ramudamu,
Sunchaure or Sinchury, Gadal, Himchuri, and
Lakandari, etc. They do not have sub-clans
and they have one gotra called Kaushila.
In the Mijhar clans (Kairan), a sub-clan
becomes a gotra, and it is important in
marriage, rituals and rites. Some of the
Kairans are: - Lamichhanya with gotras (sub-
clans) - Lamakarmi, Lama, and Lamgadi;
Pandey, Koirala, Baral (Bareli), Risyal
(Rasaili\Rasali), Gahadraj, Gajmer, Khati,
Singh, etc.
The Mijhars have a Kaushila Sakha, which is
also the gotra of the non-Mijhar clans. In
eastern Nepal, some of the Kairans have a
Kasi Sakha.
I’m a Sunar belonging to a Kairan of
Gahadraj- Samitrika (also called Jalandhari)
gotra. Gahadrajs have many gotras such as
Samitrika, Jiva, Rakhsya, Medhasi, etc. I came
into contact with a Gahadraj of Medhasi gotra
from Siliguri (Darjeeling dist, West Bengal) Lt
Col P.K.Gahadraj two months ago; he told me
that in Siliguri, Gahadrajs are divided into two
sections- Maure and Pipale. Maures write their
clan and gotra on a paper and pipales use a
Pipal leaf for this during the time of marriage.
When a person dies we mourn the death of the
person for thirteen days. The family of the
dead person does not take salt, oil or meat
during these days. In case of death of the
parents, the sons shave their head and wear a
white turban called feta. All the Gahadrajs of
Samitrika gotra within seven generations do
not take meat if they have heard about the
death of the person.
When a person dies, his/her atma- spirit
remains impure for thirteen days and after the
performance of rites- kriya, he/she becomes
pure moving in the air- vayu and visiting the
homes and lands of gotra members. A mud
ball- pinda is made and a deep (lamp) is lit in
the name of a death person. Shradhha
ceremony is performed after one year of
his/her death, burying the bones and throwing
the ashes in the Ganga River.
This is followed by daan or gift of land and
cows to sisters or to sister's children and giving
a feast to relatives. Then the spirit acquires
supernatural power and can bestow blessing
and curse upon the humans, can move in any
part of the world and visit members living
there. It visits the aanti, the top most floor of
the house, so any non-member of a gotra and a
married daughter is not allowed to visit aanti.
The first harvest of grain or corn is offered to
the pitri. When a mutton or khaja- rice cooked
in ghee is prepared in a family, first it is
offered to the pitri in a plate. Wine is offered
in a glass to the pitri- only to the male
ancestors before being taken. Failure to offer
mutton, wine, or a khaja before being taken
whenever or wherever a Gahadraj might live,
incurs sin-paapa.
17
A temple of pitri called thaan has two stones
inside it, symbolizing the male and female
ancestor. They believe that all the ancestors
and the persons, who die in families belonging
to a gotra, meet in the temple.
There is no concept of heaven or hell or the
belief in transmigration of soul. The spirits live
in the surroundings and the pitra's temple, and
can move anywhere in the world in vayu- air.
The sins are punished in this world only and
not in hell after death; the descendants also
have to suffer for the sins of their ancestors, as
is the saying that if the parents or baje-
grandfather are dharmatiya (righteous) then
their children and grandchildren will live in
prosperity.
Religious rites and beliefs vary among
different clans. Let us look into the religion of
the Khadka Kairan, who have the gotras as-
Lakain, Portel, and Kalikotya, etc, they have
their kul devi (family goddess) - Mata whose
varna- color is seto-white, so they believe that
they should not kill goat or sheep of seto
varna.
A black goat (patoh) is sacrificed. In their pitri
puja, which also takes place in Mungsir
purnima in the same month, they sacrifice a
goat or usually cocks. Unlike pitri puja, puja of
kul-devi is not performed every year.
The oral tradition of Kamis is rich like any
other Nepali jaat. One such tradition is that
Kamis belong to the Asura jaat. Asuras are the
descendants of Kashyapa Rishi through his
wife Diti, the daughter of Prajapati. The
Kulguru of Asuras is Shukracharya of the
Bhrigu family. Varuna, the god of the sea, was
the father of Bhrigu Rishi. It is believed that
Asuras become powerful after sunset. Hiranya
Kashyap, Bali, and Ravana were famous
kings. Ravana is the most important Asura in
the Kami tradition.
Ravana was instructed by his father
Vishwarupa along with his brothers in Vedas,
and use of arms. His father also sent him to
Santa Kumara Rishi and he became a great
chanter of the Samaveda, and a great devotee
of Shiva, from whom he received Chandrahasa
Khadka, a powerful sword. Ravana also
composed the famous Shiva Tandava Stotra.
Ravana married Mandodari, daughter of Asura
king Maya of Mandor.
He had a son by her, named Meghanaada
(which means the 'sound of the clouds'). In a
war with Indra, Meghanaada defeated Indra
and imprisoned him, and earned the title of
'Indrajit'.
Suresh Singh is pursuing his M. Phil in History at the Kurukshetra University, Haryana
DALIT versus CASTE
I belong to dhobi (washer man community)
caste from Uttar Pradesh which is listed as
Scheduled Caste in this state. Nobody in my
family or even relatives earns their livelihood
by washing clothes but still I am dhobi. Most
of my relatives are related to agricultural
practices.
Either they have very small land holding or
they earn their livelihood by working on others
fields. Few of us have come up in life through
receiving formal education and being
benefited by reservation policy.
My parental house is situated in a lower
middle class locality which is inhabited mostly
18
The population of Kami jaat is higher as
compared to other Nepali Dalit jaats. In the
struggle against caste discrimination, most of
the leaders are Kamis, and the literacy rate is
high. Kamis have shown their talent in
different fields like sports, and film and music
industries, etc.
International Taekwondo master Sunny Bee,
Nepali film maker Tulsi Ghimire, actor-
producer Shrawan Ghimire, top actress Niruta
Singh, and singers Deepa Jha, Suresh Kumar,
and Heera Rasaily, etc are some popular
examples.
Anoop Kumar Singh
by the dikus. We don’t have much social
interaction with them. With most of them our
relations are limited to saying Namaskar
(greetings) and have no other relations. Some
of them (mostly male) visit our house during
festivals or some ceremonies like marriage.
My parents also never encouraged us to
mingle much with their children. It is an
unwritten rule in my family that we will not
visit or eat in those families which don’t eat in
our home. It looked very normal to me then.
But when I look back now I understand the
caste dynamics in my locality.
Now I understand why my parents showed
coldness to neighbours, why they were not
enthusiastic in developing relations with
others. Their behaviour was a response to
those who still treated them as untouchables.
‘Though we cannot make you eat in our home
but we will also not eat in yours’.
Talk of being dhobi never arises in my family
except during marriage of any family member.
The consciousness is more of a being an
untouchable or lower caste. Now with the
reservation the public identity is of SC. The
word Dalit is not used much. When asked by
some stranger about caste my family
members’ stock reply has been “SC”.
I have not witnessed any incident where they
replied by saying that they are dhobi. It is
mostly dikus only who enquire about others
caste. For them the reply SC is enough to
compartmentalize people. No diku probes
further. We also feel comfortable by not giving
the name of our particular caste. After this
question usually there is no more conversation
between us and diku, so no more questions.
Within dhobi caste I have heard of two groups:
campua and dehati. Campuas are mainly
found in the urban areas and most of them still
earn their living by washing cloths and ironing
them where as dehatis are mostly engaged in
agricultural practices. The irony is that many
among the dehatis have come up because of
education and government jobs whereas
campuas are still stuck up with their caste
occupation.
The campuas are looked down by dehatis
because of their sticking to their caste
occupation. No educated dehati will marry to a
campua whose family members earn their
living by washing clothes even if they own a
big dry cleaning shop.
I have seen my caste people enquiring about
whether any members of the family in which
they are going to marry their son and daughter
are still engaged in washing clothes.
So many time campuas claim to be dehatis so
that they can marry their son or daughter in
well-educated families. There is a very popular
myth among dehatis that campuas are all
drunkards including their women who are also
of very loose character. So they try their level
best not to enter matrimonial relations with
campuas. The funniest part is that among
campuas if some one takes any other job other
than caste occupation it becomes very difficult
to differentiate between the two groups. I think
campuas were those people who were
employed in British military campuas as
washer men.
In UP dhobis are not very active in the
Ambedkarite movement. Most of them may be
voting for BSP but there are very few Dalit
activists from my caste. I have found very few
Ambedkarite among dhobis. This is very sad
given the level of untouchability and
discrimination faced by them like other Dalit
castes.
The reason may be that they feel the Dalit
movement to be a Jatava movement because of
predominant presence of Jatavas in the BSP.
Dhobis should understand that it is quite
natural as the movement was started and led
by jatavas with great pain and suffering. No
other Dalit castes came forward.
It is the jatavas who took to Babasaheb’s
teaching to their heart and left practicing
Hinduism which helped them to mobilize
politically. Ambedkarite consciousness made
them invest more on education. I feel that the
Dalit castes who accept Ambedkar’s thought
sooner or later become educationally and
economically powerful as his thoughts help
them to gain confidence and free them from
mental slavery of the hindu social order.
The upliftment of jatavas in UP should be role
model for other Dalit castes like dhobis to
follow if they are really interested in their
upliftment. For Dalits there is no other way to

19
come up except treading on the path shown by
Babasaheb.
When I joined JNU to do my masters I
involved myself with Dalit student group
United Dalit Students’ Forum (UDSF). It was
a great experience for me as nowhere else a
Dalit student group was so active and had such
an independent existence. Otherwise in most
of universities Dalit students are not able to
organize themselves and are unable to raise
their voices.
Since the first day I joined UDSF I became
very active. Few months later one student
approached me. He came to meet me after
hearing about me from one of his friends.
After some formal talk he told me that he also
belong to my caste. Then he started asking
about my activities in UDSF. He felt that I was
wasting my time and instead I should
concentrate on my studies.
I tried to reason him by telling how important
it is for Dalit students to take part in the
Ambedkarite movement and it is through this
Anoop Kumar Singh is pursuing his Mphil in Russian Studies, SIS, JNU
You can’t know caste until you’ve known a Dalit
Bhangi! As a child who loved to swear, the
word had caught my imagination. I still do not
know where I picked up the word but I used it
for all of two days. Then I used it in front of
my parents’ friend.
I still do not know what I was told, but I
remember feeling terrible that I used the word.
I was still too young and too middle class and
20
they can gain their self confidence and learn
lot of social skills which they generally lack
because of their background. He had nothing
to say regarding this aspect but I could see that
he was not willing to buy this argument.
Later the talk drifted to other topics like Civil
services etc. But when he was leaving he said
that Dhobis were higher in social status than
other Dalit castes like jatavas and Balmikis.
They were never treated as badly by dikus as
jatavas and balmikis. So there was no need for
dhobis to participate in the Dalit movement.
This talk of his shocked me very much. I asked
him whether he took reservation. He replied in
positive. Then I asked him why he did so? If
dhobis were socially higher than other Dalit
castes and treated well by dikus then why he,
being dhobi, was taking benefit of reservation
for Dalits. Then I told him to leave my room.
After that I never had a chance to interact with
him as he always avoided me in the campus
since then.
Shamuel Tharu
too Christian to understand what caste meant.
Like the sindhi shop in our locality was, to my
mind, named after the man who ran it.
I am by birth a Mar Thoma Christian, what is
otherwise known as a Syrian Christian. There
was not much space for caste in the family that
I grew up in, religion defined who we were. I
stopped going to Sunday school early so even
religion was not too defining a characteristic.
As a child growing up on an academic
campus, I played with children of different
kinds of parents (Class I to Class IV
employees of the institute). Caste was too
complicated to enter into our discourse. Even
our abuse was not caste-based, though in
Hyderabad it is rare to find caste based abuse
(people usually abuse your family).
The categories of differentiation were age,
color to a certain extent and more prominently
class. My school too, had people of many
castes, though looking back now I realize that
they were mostly dikus. It was common for a
student to bring duck, or rabbit or a wild bird
in their lunch box.
Only one boy, who I now realize was an OBC,
would not touch our food if we had eaten
meat. He used to bring excellently cooked
root, which we all used to hanker after and we
all had to stand in line and he would drop a
small piece in our plates without touching our
plates or letting us touch his food.
It was quite a ceremony. But being in India,
the vegetarian non-vegetarian divide is so
inculcated into you that one knew that
brahmins did not eat meat. Brahmins were not
a caste. They were a community.
It is difficult to explain how as a child I
understood these categories. Brahmins were
not brahmins in relation to anyone else. They
were just brahmins and we were Christians.
No connection as such.
The school I did my Plus 2 in, was far more of
a mixed bag. It had a policy of giving
scholarships to poor rural students, mostly
OBCs who lived in the hostels. The diku
students like me were mostly day scholars. It
was strange because the hostellers were better
athletes, hard workers, made more friends than
the day scholars.
21
So there was more a looking up to rather than
any other kind of discrimination, although
even in 11th and 12th I had no conception of
caste.
As a child I was not quite tuned into what was
going on in the world around me and lived
very much in my head so the reservation
debates in the 1990s just passed me by
completely.
When I passed out of school and had to apply
to colleges, the question of reservation never
came up. It was not part of the discourse in my
school and I applied in the general quota
without giving it any thought, I think. I had
even missed my law school admission by two
ranks and I don’t remember thinking I was
cheated out of it by the quotas.
College was similar; I made friends across the
board. It was much later, in university, that I
realized their castes. Caste was not a
consideration. Secularism, issues of class and
the like were what passed off as political
thought in my head.
I come from a rather enlightened family and
my mother was involved in the anti-caste
movement of Andhra Pradesh. By the time I
was twenty I knew what a Dalit was, I had a
vague idea about the discourse surrounding the
anti-caste movement, I knew the rationale for
reservations.
It was, however, constructed in such extreme
terms that I could never actually place it in any
real context. It was only while I worked
closely on the thesis of a friend of mine on the
conflict between Marx and Ambedkar, did I
get my first real introduction to what caste
means.
I had read Kancha Ilaiah’s book, Why I am Not
a Hindu, but I had not placed its significance.
While thinking about Marx and Ambedkar
with my friend in relation to cultural politics,
much of Ilaiah’s work came back in a new
light.
My family context also gave me an inroad into
talking about the caste question. Dalit students
of my mother accepted me as a friend, who
could talk to them about caste, who they could
share experiences with. Caste was just another
issue that I had understood and that was of
national importance.
Since then it is difficult not to see caste
operating everywhere. I still do not know the
names or caste occupations of more than 20
castes, but it still boggles the mind.
Economics, culture religion, politics, are all
beginning to make a real sort of meaning when
addressed with an awareness of the
functioning of caste.
Looking back at my life it is possible to see
who are the friends I had, who I kept in touch
with, what sorts of people I approached, all
reflecting various levels of exclusion of those
from “lower” caste backgrounds.
Even as I write this of my memory, I
constantly say, I didn’t know what caste was
when I was a child. But I did know, I practiced
it, although far less than most I should say, it
determined who my friends were, it
determined how I thought of the world. And it
made me realize who cleaned my toilets at
home.
Since I joined Insight, my views on what caste
is and how it functions has changed
immensely. The most important difference that
I have understood is that of difference between
Dalits of various castes and differences
between ways in which the movement decides
to go forward.
This may seem obvious to most, but for me it
helped to demystify the category Dalit, as
Shamuel Tharu is pursing his Mphil in Security Studies in JNU, Delhi
22
someone with a defined identity, a particular
politics etc. I think I can tentatively say that
today I can interact with my friends, not as
Dalits who are friends, but as friends who are
Dalits among various other things.
I am still however, different. I am not an
honorary Dalit. For the first time in my life I
have found that I cannot co-opt someone else
experience with a similar narrative (however
true or false) of my own. I must say here, that
being with the movement in small ways has
taught me at least one invaluable lesson.
That we make meaning from experience.
Earlier, I used to live my life on the basis of
what I ought to do and feel guilty about what I
didn’t do. But now there is certain validity to
what I did, right or wrong, that is real and is
empowering and allows me to participate in
what I consider progressive politics and to
make real relationships.
I still do not know what to make of caste. My
own community used to keep slaves till until
two generations ago. According to myth we
were born from the marriages of Syrians who
came with St Thomas to India and Brahmin
men and women from Kerala.
When I introduced myself to VT Rajashekar,
he said “Oh! A Syrian Christian, I better be
careful, you are from a community of vipers.”
I don’t know how true this is, I doubt it is, but
I would not be surprised if it was.
I think I have come a long way now from
being criminally ignorant to feeling apologetic
about my caste (?) to becoming aware of how
it functions. Not fully aware of course, but
neither do I feel silenced by my privilege any
longer.
 Learning to speak together
In a voluminous definition of the caste
bhumihar on a web site, what abruptly caught
my attention was the line: ‘Today they are
responsible for most of the corruption in the
state of Bihar.’ The facts that I am bhumihar
by caste – known as bhumihar brahmin in the
census register – and that I hail from Bihar, are
the two reasons behind myself getting amused
at the line.
In fact these are the two facts that I shall be
elaborating upon in the following passages: the
fact that I am a bhumihar and that I hail from
Bihar. This is important for myself coming to
grips with the discourse of caste that is being
forwarded by Insight and my own position in
it.
Being born and brought up in a predominantly
bhumihar society in Bihar is not a simple
thing. From the very childhood you are led to
believe that you are a proud successor of one
of the decisive castes in the state that has a
long history of control over land and masses.
(And until recently, we also flaunted our
political control over the state).
But in the process you are also made to forget,
and deliberately at that, by certain tricky
discourses doing the rounds in the community,
that this is the same caste that worked in
connivance with brahmins to inflict
insurmountable cruelty on Dalits by
subordinating them for their own benefits.
But my family was a bit interesting in the
sense that it deliberately kept me away from
the castiest discourse on the ground that caste
was a bad thing and that one should keep away
from it. ‘We do not teach caste to our children.
23
Kumar Anand
We do not discriminate against one caste or
the other,’ my father would repeatedly say.
No doubt my family thought best of me by
keeping me away from the discourse. But little
did my parents realize that in the process I was
getting reduced to a soul thoroughly
insensitive about the issue.
But there was something in the social and
political structure of the state that one could
not remain long untouched by the
undercurrents of dissent erupting here and
there, leading to one of the most significant
political shifts in the history of independent
India.
Bhumihars have long flexed their muscle by
virtue of their control over the land. The term
bhumihar is composed of two separate words,
bhumi and aahar, meaning the caste that feeds
on land. But bhumihar is not just the caste that
innocently fed on land in order to survive.
History has it that on the simple pretext of
basing its existence on the land, this caste
spread its tentacles so ferociously that it
became the unchallenged master of the rich
fertile land. It so transpired such that despite
constituting a reckoning 15% of the total
population, the Dalits in the state could not
even have control over a paltry 2% of
cultivated land.
But this was not going to continue long. A
force was brewing in the South-Central Bihar
region that was going to unsettle the small but
powerful land owing bhumihar zamindars,
thereby starting a long bloody battle that was
going to take away a number of innocent lives.
To counter the MCC-led Dalit armed force, the
land-owing bhumihars created their own
Ranbir Sena armed to the teeth with the most
sophisticated weapons that only reflected their
deep-seated fear. All these were leading to the
most interesting twist in the history of caste
oppression that Bihar had ever witnessed.
There was also going to be a very significant
shift in the political scene of the state. The
coming in power of the Lalu Yadav-led
government would finally turn the whole
upper class domination upside down. Now
bhumihars had no reasons to take pride in the
BB (Bhumihar Brahmin) Collegiate, a school
in my town Muzaffarpur that was once meant
to educate bhumihars to the exclusion of
Dalits.
Now the university I studied in, the erstwhile
Bihar University, innocently named, was
henceforth going to be called by the name
Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar
University. Now bhumihars had no reasons to
flaunt their political control. They were only
left to grouse about the way things were
transpiring against them.
My family reacted to the massacre of Dalits by
the Bhumihar-led Ranbir Sena in the parts of
Bihar as being some kind of aberration on part
of the bhumihars that prompted them for such
inhuman act. I cannot clearly say whether my
family secretly supported their act.
Kumar Anand is pursuing his PG Diploma in English Journalism, IIMC, New Delhi
24
The fact that Bihar is today in the throes of
unprecended social upheaval is something
bhumihars won’t ever take in good humour.
And this is precisely why the line -- ‘Today
they are responsible for most of the corruption
in the state of Bihar’-- amused me so much.
How blatantly the truth is disclosed in the line.
And yet how truly!
I have already done away with my bhumihar
past. And this could not be possible had I
succumbed to the charm of remaining
untouched by the ‘dirty’ discourse on caste
that most of the people belonging to upper
caste try to do away with.
I have awakened to the Dalit discourse
fighting all odds on the way. But whenever I
try to critically analyze the scenario and open
my mouth to speak with my Dalit friends –
yes, speaking with, and not speak on behalf of
– I am faced with a feeling that I am an
outsider who had better kept away form the
whole thing.
But still, by some imperceptible force, I am
given to think about my Dalit friends and
chime in with their voice. As if by so doing I
shall be able to inch a few more steps in the
direction of doing away with my past.
What I request from my Dalit friends is to give
me the confidence to speak for them, with
them.
 The Classical debate continues…
Culture and caste in CIEFL
I want to talk about culture. I mean what I
used to and now think/ not think of as culture.
My entry point in this discussion is what has
been happening on the Central Institute of
English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
(CIEFL) mess notice board over the last
couple of days.
Till Friday, the mess notice board flaunted a
yellow coloured, expensively printed poster
about a Veena recital; to be held in the Gokak
auditorium, on Saturday. On the day of the
recital, another poster appeared right next to
the earlier one.
This one, handmade, was put up by the
DBMSA (Dalit, Bahujan, Minorities Students
Association) and carried a quote from a ‘great’
Dappu player (like most of the non-Dalit
participants I did not know what is a Dappu or
who are the Madigas.): “If I booze and play
Dappu, I swear! Even Saraswathi has to throw
away her Veena, and dance in front of me.”
The next hour or so saw by and large three
kinds of experience from the non-Dalit/
minority participants. There were the likes of
me who said: “Hmm. So there is such a thing
as the Dappu and the Madiga community. I
think it is really interesting that mess notice
board has managed to create the space for a
dialogue.
They have done a good thing by putting up the
poster, it is important to know that there are
other cultural markers in the various strata of
the supposed homogenous hindu society, that
are as important as the Veena is to some one as
upper caste as I am.”
25
Samata Biswas
The second kind of response was one
primarily of disgust. Why is the DBMSA
reacting to anything and everything? By
putting up posters every once in a while are
they not undermining the more “serious” and
“legitimate” grievances? (I want to come back
to this later on.)
But these two kinds of responses were
primarily articulated by a remarkably small
group of people. Almost every one else, who
was concerned enough to respond, responded
with anger. They said why do they have to
make every thing an issue?
The Veena after all is just an instrument, and
what is the meaning of attaching religious and
caste connotations to music? One must
understand that there are some things that do
not subscribe to class/ caste boundaries, and
surely music is one of them?
I could not get the text of the original recital
poster. But that mentioned how the performer
is trained in the ‘classical’ tradition of so and
so, and how the Veena is the ‘ancient’ ‘Indian’
instrument truly representing the rich cultural
heritage that ‘we’ have inherited.
I had to ask questions about what is ‘cultural’
and ‘classical’, why are the two, almost always
in the Indian context, conflated, and who are
these ‘we’ that have inherited this tradition? Is
it not apparent from the DBMSA poster that
there is at least one group of people who are
consciously declining the claims of any such
inheritance?
Is it not even more remarkable that both these
groups, the ‘us’ and the ‘them’, inhabit the
same, national/ geographical, and in this case,
institutional space?
But we tend to forget that ‘culture’ (here
taking the term to mean “…the independent
and abstract noun which describes the works
and practices of the intellectual and especially
artistic activity…” as referred to by Raymond
Williams), which is apparently the field we are
arguing within, is not non-coercive.
The relationship between the Veena and the
Dappu is one of domination, and even though
now, the participants in the institution are
supposed to be in more or less an equal
footing, it does not make the entire history of
subjugation and oppression go away. It is not
possible for ‘us’ to read the Veena poster in
the same way that the DBMSA has read it.
Not merely because the two groups use
different “dictionaries”, but also because our
experiences have been widely different, the
institutional framework attempts to
homogenize the student community, but that,
thankfully is not possible.
Looking into the way in which one poster
frames the other perhaps best shows this.
Before the Dappu poster, the Veena recital one
was thought of as essentially ‘secular’, here
‘cultural’ and ‘secular’ acting as almost
synonymous.
But the Dappu poster did not merely
foreground the hegemonic structure within
which the Veena operates; it also brought to
focus the religious and castiest connotations
that the Veena invariably carries.
The Dappu poster was made to bring these and
many more issues up to the front. Placed right
next to the Veena one, it was also yellow in
colour, and contrasted the painting of a red
Veena with a black and white rendering if a
dancing man in a loincloth.
It also spoke for and about an entirely different
mode of being, an experience that includes
alcohol and swearing- an experience that has
26
systematically been marginalized over the
years, when the majorities were busy forging a
nationalist cultural identity.
I think now I understand why and how only a
Dalit student could/would have read the poster
the way (now, I feel) it needed to be read. I
myself had noticed the Saraswathi statue in the
Library innumerable times, but it needed
another DBMSA intervention and a bit of an
action to make me realize that I, after all,
belong to a majority community.
Even while believing the institutional
administration has no job practicing any
religion, I hardly ever noticed it was doing so;
perhaps because it was my religion that was
being celebrated.
There are people asking why is it always the
Dalits who raise questions? There were friends
of mine who refused to take any notice what
so ever of any of the two posters. They said
these are merely a group of people with
nothing better to do in life, people who do not
study.
This reaction seems almost relevant and
justifiable when raised by a group of bright
students inside an educational institution.
Their insistence on the importance of not
encouraging ‘segregationist’ actions which
may lead to ‘violence on campus’, speaks
volumes about the lives they have led, a life
that never needed any mode of violence to
achieve anything.
Uniyal quoted from Namdeo Dhasal, “one day
I cursed that mother-fucker god”. It would
have been very remarkable to find out how I
would have reacted had this been put up on the
notice board one day. The atheist in me would
have been happy perhaps, but the secularist in
me who tries not to hurt anyone’s religious
sentiments, would in all possibilities have been
righteously indignant.
This refers to what happened on Sunday.
Another poster appeared on the space of the
now absent Veena one. “You have no right to
insult a god, no matter what religion. The very
fact that you did proves that you are nothing
but rude, coarse, incompetent, arrogant,
fundamentalists who do not know anything.”
It is important to know that this was the
response of an upper class brahmin from
Kolkata, one of those (like me) to whom caste
does not exist. For us, class divisions are the
primary and sole markers of oppression in our
society, and as a result we can hardly
understand how the comparative analysis of
the cultural markers can lay bare coercive
practices in the civil society.
For us, oppression is almost always economic,
and here since the Dappu player talks about
drinking, the economic inequality must be not
so prominent. (After all, if you have money
enough to drink, why complain, or for that
matter if you can waste your time thinking
about things that do not matter then is it a
wonder that your results are not good?).
For us, cultural markers are abstract and
therefore of not much significance, unlike
religious markers though, as it is interesting to
note that indignation of this section of the
student community was engendered only when
the ‘religious’ connotation of the Veena was
brought to the front.
Note the departure from the initial reactions,
earlier there was indignant voices claiming the
sanctity of the ‘secular’ space that music (read
culture) inhabits. In this case the stress was on
the “Veena” while later on it shifted to
“Saraswathi”.
Culture to me is also something that lays bare
such hegemonic practices. It needed the
evocation of the Dappu to bring my attention
to the identity of the Veena as something that
has systematically and historically
marginalized the Dappu and millions of other
such instruments, literature, religion, and ways
of life.
27
There is another aspect to the debate, which it
is taking place within an educational
institution, and all of us, after all, are students.
Why is the sanctity of the institutional space
being repeatedly evoked? Why is it being
assumed that the educational institution is and
has to be beyond and above “identity” and
other politics?
It is not as if, discriminations do not take place
inside an educational institution, especially
one like CIEFL, imparting higher education,
itself a very elite formation. Arguing for the
sacrality of the institution’s space will be a
step backwards, and then we will no longer be
able to view the private/ home as sites of
domination and subjugation either.
The “high standards” (and here the secular/
culturally neutral aspirations) maintained by
the institutions become suspect when the caste/
class/ gender distinctions of the students have
never allowed them equal opportunity.
(Looking at it in this light, the indifference to
the importance of the questions raised makes a
lot more sense.)
The ideology implicit in the working of an
institution also frames its own minorities in
more ways than one. These minorities, and
among them the women students, also have to
make their voices and demands heard, and
how can that be exclusively outside of the
campus.
Coming back to what is started with: culture.
Raymond Williams in Keywords traces the
way in which the modern term culture arrived
at its present meaning- I can try and do the
same to my understanding of culture.
Around one year ago, my position as an
educated Bengali, urban middle class youth
automatically provided me access to
everything I then deemed “cultural”. (Note
that to me then, the word was essentially an
adjective).
Certain kinds of literature, music and films etc
only were cultural, every thing else was not.
But in the beginning of this semester, I wanted
the noun to mean “the whole social process”.
But as of now, I really do not know. I know
how something can be made into cultural and
something else undermined.
Samata Biswas has just completed her MA in Cultural Studies from CIEFL, Hyderabad
Ayyankali: A Pioneer. A Revolutionary. A Hero.
He was born on 28 August 1863 in
Travancore, Kerala. He was one of the seven
children of Ayyan of Pulaya caste (agricultural
labour). Ayyankali grew up to be a tall, well
built and handsome young man. He was
known for his physical prowess and
proficiency in the martial arts.
One particular child hood incident made
Ayyankali aware of the caste prejudices
prevalent in Travancore society. While playing
football with children of his age the ball
kicked by Ayyankali fell on the roof of a Nair
house. The Nair warned him not to play with
diku young men. Deeply hurt, he took oath
never to play with them. Then he went into a
period of deep thought. He came out of a
month of contemplation, a la Buddha, with a
secret agenda - civil liberties for the
untouchables.
During that time Dalits were not allowed to
wear proper cloths and were banned to enter
into the main street of a village or ride a cart in
28
I know by paying attention to culture I can
unveil innumerable power relations that my
earlier methodological affiliations always
obscured. I tend to believe that domination is
not merely economic and that culture plays a
very important part in uncovering them. But as
to what is it exactly that I understand by
culture, I really am no longer sure.
Our Icon
front of dikus. Fearless Ayyankali decided to
resist these inhuman conditions of Dalits. To
raise the confidence and will to fight among
Dalits he decided to take ‘direct action’ alone.
He bought two white bullocks and a cart and
tied big brass bells around the animals' neck.
The dikus were horrified at the arrogance of
this Pulaya. He wore a dhoti, wrapped
angavasthram around his shoulders and tied a
turban and drove the cart up and down the
small market. This created a great sensation
both among dikus and Dalits. No Dalits ever
thought of doing such thing in their wildest
dreams. Dikus were also very shocked at the
daring of Ayyankali. Soon diku lumpens
gathered to teach Ayyankali a lesson. On his
way back home, he was stopped by them.
"What? Wearing a mulmul dhoti?"
Ayyankali pulled out a long dagger and told
them in his booming commanding voice that
any one that stops him will get the taste of the
sharp weapon in his hands.
That day he exercised his civil liberty, banned
so far for untouchables, and got away with it.
The harness bells of his bullock cart rang loud
each day in the street and market. His success
gave birth to pride and conscientised other
Dalits and rankled the dikus.
Walk for Freedom & Chaliyar Riot
Though Kali could ride in a cart through the
streets, other lesser beings were not allowed to
walk there. So he mobilized his people and
took a 'walk for freedom' to Puthen Market.
When they reached the Chaliyar Street of
Bala-rama-Puram, diku mob was waiting to
prevent them from moving further. There was
a riot in which both the parties drew blood in
the first armed rebellion of Dalits. Hundreds of
Dalits got injured but under Ayyankali they
fought very bravely and for the first time they
were able to terrorize the dikus through their
resistance.
Inspired by the Chaliyar Riot, youngsters got
out on the streets to win their basic rights in
Manakkadu, Kazhakkoottam, KaniyaPuram
etc in the vicinity of the capital. In the process
of dikus trying to put down the freedom
movement, the unrest spread and reached civil
war proportions. This new situation
emboldened the Dalits to ask for other
freedoms and rights denied to them. Physical
attacks by the dikus tried to prevent further
erosion of their feudal monopolies. To this
provocation Dalits organized small fighting
units to counter them.
School Entry Struggle
During Ayyankali's younger days, the Dalits
were not allowed entry into schools. He
wanted at least the next generation of Dalits to
have education. In 1904 the Pulayas under his
leadership made efforts to start their own
schools since they were denied entry into
government schools. These schools had no
black boards. Sand on the floor was the book
and fingers the pencil. Thus Dalits challenged
the rule that they can not even study in secret.
29
The first school in the history of Dalits was
established in Venganoor. But it was
destroyed.
Great Ayyankali formed an organization
Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (SJPS) that
submitted many petitions to the government to
allow Dalit children to study in schools. In
1907 the government passed an order to admit
Dalit children to schools. But the officials at
the periphery sabotaged the order. The school
management consisting of landlords also
refused to implement the order.
Still Ayyankali knocked at the doors of
schools and tried to force the management to
honour the government order and admit Dalit
children. But they were adamant in not letting
Dalits in the schools. Then to pressurize them
Ayyankali thundered, “If you don’t allow our
children to study, weeds will grow in your
fields".
He cut asunder the last strand of kinship
between the landlords and labours and paved
the path for a historic first ever agricultural
labour strike.
Kerala's First Workers' Strike
Ayyankali gave a call to Pulayas and other
agricultural worker for strike in 1907. His was
a historic call, for he had heralded the first
agrarian strike in the history of the world. He
added one more demand: 'make the employees
permanent' by giving pay during off season
when there is no work. The other demands
were:
1. Stop Victimization on whims 2. Stop
Involving workers in false cases 3. End
whipping of workers 4. Freedom of
movement, and 5. Admission for children in
schools
The landlords didn’t agree. The polarization
had gone too far to be reversed. No
processions. No jeeps. No microphones. No
pamphlets or banners. Yet, in the fields of
Kandala, Kaniyapuram, Pallichal and
Mudavooppara to Vizinjom, no worker was
seen. Initially the landlords laughed at the
workers. They calculated that when the food
grains run out, the workers will be back.
Landlords formed groups and did try to
intimidate the workers by beating them up at
random. They failed. They tried to use some
backsliders among workers in the fields but
met with resistance from Ayyankali Sena. This
led to violent encounters between the workers
and landlords' men. But Dalits remain
steadfast in their actions. The fields turned into
jungles. Starvation stared workers in the face.
The landlords planted rice seedlings. Since it
was already out of season, plants didn’t sprout
grains. Landlords unused to working in hot sun
suffered health problems. When some
landlords tried to adjust, the workers
demanded high wages.
With food grains running short, both landlords
and workers suffered. Destruction faced both
exploiter and exploited. The kitchen fires had
stopped burning. Prolonged hunger made
many a workers to waver.
Now Ayyankali played his trump card. He
approached the fishermen community of
Vizhinjom and came to an agreement with
them. One person from each family was to be
put in each fishing boat and given a share of
the days catch till the strike was over.
Landlords saw impending defeat at the hands
of their dependants. This sent them into
helpless rage. They committed atrocities on
many Dalits and set fire to their huts. The
commandos of Ayyankali set fire to many
houses of landlords in the interior and sent
shivers down their spines, not knowing when
and where the attack will come from.
Soon, the mood of land lords changed to one
of compromise. Ayyankali wanted the
landlords to come to him, which they did with
peace proposals. Land lords agreed to rise in
wages. School entry and travel rights were
30
accepted in principle. There followed a lot of
blood letting on both sides. But Ayyankali
walked tall at the head of his group.
School Entry
The landlords were humbled but bureaucracy
was still not relenting. Three years after the
order to allow Dalits entry into schools was
signed, it was released to public in 1910. The
waves of joys erupted from the Dalit masses.
But the path to school for Dalits was still not
free from thorns. The prejudice against Dalits
entry into schools can be gauged from
following statement of ‘progressive’ person
like Pillai.
Ramakrishna Pillai, editor of
Swadeshabhimani, came out against the order
with, '...to put together those who have been
cultivating their brain for generations with
those who have been cultivating their fields is
like putting a horse and buffalo in the same
yoke." This coming from one who first
published the biography of Marx in
Malayalam!
When Ayyankali reached the Ooroot
Ambalam School in Balaramapuram with
Panchami, the 5 year old daughter of Poojari
Ayyan, for admission, accompanied by his
supporters, diku thugs were waiting there. An
intense fight followed with both parties getting
injuries. Around the same time, there was a
riot going on in the road junction between
Pulayas and Nairs. Nairs attacked Pulaya huts,
destroyed many and took away fowls, goats
and bullocks.
They molested women and belaboured the
men folk. Many ran and hid in the fields to
escape the wrath. Those who fought back were
destroyed. After seven days of rioting, the
smoke and dust settled down. Though riots
ended, temporarily albeit, in Ooroot Ambalam
created grave repercussions in Marayamuttam,
Venganoor, Perumbazhuthoor, Kunathukaal
etc. After this riot, known as Pulaya Mutiny
the struggle of Dalits for a free society became
acute.
'Adha-sthitha' - Dalits Own School
In spite of the best efforts of the government,
Dalits were not given admission to the extent
desired. Ayyankali found a way out--to build
our own schools. He hoped that one could
study without dependence on the dikus. The
permission to start such a school was received
from the Dept. of Education. Thus the first
school of Dalits was established in Venganoor.
No one who loved his life came forward to
become a teacher in this school. Among Dalits
there was none educated enough to be one.
The government paid Rs six per month. To
encourage teachers to teach Dalits, the
government offered Rs nine per month. After
intense search one Parameshwaran Pillai of
Kaithamukku in Thiruvanathapuram decided
to join the school.
The new teacher entered the school
reluctantly, as though he was entering a
garbage dump. His socio- cultural reflexes
took over when his progressive intellectualism
came face to face with societal reality. He was
afraid. He show it. The situation was also quite
tense. In no time hooting started from all
around the school. The opponents were in no
mood to stop the cacophony. There followed
pushing and jostling between the opponents
and supporters of the school that turned to a
riot.
Some came to assault the 'master'. The 'master'
was shivering like a leaf. Still the classes
continued in spite of the fear stained
atmosphere. That night the school was
destroyed. In no time a new school structure
came up. The opposition to the school
increased, but the efforts to continue the
school was not sacrificed. The master came to
school and went to his home in Kaitha-mukku
escorted by bodyguards.
31
This went of for some time though the school
was destroyed at least five times. Each time
the school was destroyed, riots ensued. When
the master perceived danger to his life, he
wanted to give his resignation. But Ayyankali
pacified him and assured him security by
giving body guards to him.
Covering the bodies of Dalit women
From hundreds of years dikus had enforced a
dress code for Dalits male as well as female.
They were banned to wear normal cloths. The
rule for all Dalits was to cover only those parts
of the body between the waist and knee, the
slightest liberties taken brought brutal
retribution of being tied to a tree and given
lashes. Dalit women were not allowed to cover
the upper portion of their body.
The other rule was to wear necklaces of carved
granite. The stone necklaces were a sign of
slavery and lay on the naked breasts of women
like a serpent. The order of the day for women
was 'not to cover the upper body'. Necklaces of
glass beads and marbles strung together filled
their necks in large numbers. Similar stuff was
wound around the wrists. From the ears hung a
piece of iron - 'kunukku'.
Ayyankali organized an agitation in
Neyyattinkara against these 'ornaments' and
asked the Dalit women to give up the habit of
wearing necklaces of carved granite. He told
them to wear proper blouse instead. This
incensed dikus very much and riots broke out
at various places in Kerala. But Dalits
including their women were in no mood of
compromise and soon the inhuman dress code
became a thing of past.
Pulaya Temple Entry Movement
In 1917 Chakola Kurumbaan Deivathaan
became a member of the Sreemoolam Praja
Sabha. He led a historic procession of more
than 2000 Pulaya and forcibly entered the
Chengannoor Temple. This was ten years
before the famous Temple Entry Ordinance
and could be considered the first Temple Entry
Movement in the country.
A section of Pulayas converts into Christianity
started a new movement under the leadership
of Pambaadi John Joseph. When the number of
Dalit Christians increased many fold, the diku
Christians began to consider them as
untouchables. They were thrown out of the
churches, so, they build their own churches
and chose their own padres. The unsavory
experience from the Syrian Christians created
sufficient mental agony in PJ Joseph to submit
a memorandum listing the misdoings of Syrian
Christian church to the British Parliament.
Ultimately Mr. Joseph began struggles against
Hindu-Christian upper caste domination within
the church. Ayyankali gave full support to the
struggle begun by PJ Joseph. He not only
collaborated with him on many fronts, he also
recommended his name to the government for
being made a member of the legislative
assembly.
Parallel to the Travancore State struggles,
Kochi State also saw untouchables on the war
path. After the formation of Pulaya Mahan
Saba in 1913, they struggled and got social
and economic benefits.
Meanwhile Ayyankali gave more importance
to creative activities. In 1916 he established
Theeyankara Pulaya School, in 1919
Shankhumukham School for Christian
converts, Night school at Manarkadu, Primary
School at Venganoor, Weaving centre and
many other such establishments. Hundreds of
offices of Sadhu Jana Paripaalana Sangham
(SJPS) were turned into schools.
Functioning of SJPS
The SJPS branches mushroomed in all the
villages and hamlets of Travancore. Ayyankali
administered the matters of the Sangham with
great managerial acumen. The office bearers
of the organisation were given elaborate
powers by the community. The brave leaders
of SJPS were the 'branch managers'. There was
32
no place for cowards in this post. They worked
closely with Ayyankali in all the day to day
activities and freedom struggles. They were
the real captains of his 'army'.
It was during the period of 1913 to 1930 that
he carried out intense campaigns and work in
all parts of Tiruvalla, Changanassery and
Kottayam. In that period, After Sree Narayana
Guru's SNDP the next most powerful and
numerous was Ayyankali's SJPS. Strength and
unity were the hallmark of the organisation.
Within a short period it had close to a
thousand branches in all parts of the state.
After laying solid foundations of his
organization Ayyankali decided that SJPS
should have its own magazine. The
communities' whole hearted support to the
endeavour gave the organization strength to set
out. The monthly 'Sadhu Jana Paripalini' began
publication with Kali Chodikkuruppan as the
editor. 'Sadhu Jana Paripalini' was perhaps the
first magazine to be brought out by
untouchables.
The aim behind all his efforts was education of
his community. 'Progress through education
and organisation' was the slogan of Ayyankali.
He fully believed that the communities'
salvation lay in education. He surged forward
after kicking aside every impediment that
came in the way of his efforts towards this
end. He opened schools to open the eyes of his
communities' darling progeny where the doors
of public and private schools refused them
entry.
In spite of all this, Ayyankali was not for
establishment of caste based educational
institutions. He considered schools as a place
where the whole humanity sat and feted on the
riches of human endeavour; then only could
fruits of knowledge become meaningful.
Yet, he had to go against the grain of his
beliefs and establish separate schools for his
people, when he was at the end of his tether,
due to obstructionist attitude of dikus. Thus he
established 'The Venganoor Puduval School' in
1936. The school had a weaving centre, library
and other vocational units attached to it.
By 1941 he was a very sick man. He died of
Asthma on June 18, 1941. Dalits in Kerala
especially Pulyas will remain grateful to him
for giving them civil liberties and breaking the
chains of slavery for ever.
[Excerpts from www.ambedakar.org]
Bhikari Thakur: Shakespeare of Bihar
Bhikari Thakur is best known for the creation
of the twentieth century theatre form Bidesia.
Bhikari Thakur was a barber (a backward
Caste) who abandoned home and hearth to
form a group of actors who dealt with issues of
confrontation: between the traditional and the
modern, between urban and rural, between the
haves and the have-nots.
Appreciative native Bhojpuri audiences
consider Bhikari Thakur as the incomparable
founder father, propagator and exponent par
excellence of this form. He was a folk poet, a
folk singer, a folk dancer and actor.
The narrative of Bidesia has been made so
effective through the medium of vibrant
33
It is a great shame that nobody is aware of his
great deeds outside Kerala. The state which
sells itself as hundred percent literate and
empowerment of women has nothing to say
about his greatest son Ayyankali. The caste-
prejudice against which Ayyankali fought
through out his life made sure that his life and
message does not reach to masses outside or
even in Kerala. All of us, at INSIGHT, bow
their head before great Ayyankali.
Voices
B. Prakash
dances and pleasing music and based on such
life-like stories that it presents a realistic
picture of the poor joint families of the region.
The Bhojpuri taste is so theatrically inclined
that it will not hesitate even to undertake long
journeys to witness a performance. Like in
many other folk forms, the female roles in
Bidesia are played by the male actor-dancers.
Normally they wear dhoti or shirt trousers but
they sport long hair and make it and ornament
it like women's hair.
Dance forms an integral part of this form, in
fact it’s the essence of the performance, which
starts with dance in order to attract a large
audience. Once this is done the Bidesia starts.

The actors, besides dancing take on female
roles in different dramatic contexts. In spite of
the advent of various other modes of
entertainment, Bidesia remains the most
popular and refreshing relaxation for the
Bhojpuris.
Through his plays, he gave voice to the cause
of poor laborers and tried to create awareness
about the poor situation of women in bhojpuri
society. He always stood and spoke against
casteism and communalism in the same
cultural tunes. People from this region are very
fond of and feel proud of his contribution to
the local cultural traditions.
His plays and his style of theatre are very
popular for their rhythmic language, sweet
songs and appealing music. His plays are a
true reflection of bhojpuri culture. Almost all
of his works focused on the day-to-day
problems of lower castes/classes. He used
satire and light-hearted comments to
maximum effect to put forward his views on
social ills and other problems plaguing
Bhojpuri society.
He was born on December 18, 1887 at the
village of Kutubpur in the district of Saran,
Bihar. His mother’s name was Shivakali Devi
and father was Dalsingar Thakur. He belonged
to a naai (barber) caste, one of the most
backward castes in Indian society. The
traditional work of his caste was cutting hairs
and assisting brahmins in marriage as well as
in death ceremonies.
They were also used by dikus to send and
distribute ceremonial (in cases of marriages
and deaths) and other messages in the village
and nearby areas. They acted like postal
workers in the traditional-feudal village setup.
In one of his works he says: “Jati Hazzam
more Kutubpur mokam… Jati-pesha bate,
bidya naheen bate babujee”. In this he speaks
about his own caste and regrets that his caste
people are distributing letters to all without
34
knowing the importance of the letter, or the
alphabets.
He clearly understood the power of education
and continuously chided his people for being
illiterate and bounded by jajmani (patron-
client) relations with the dikus.
Among the masses of Bihar and other
Bhojpuri-speaking areas, he needs no
introduction. But the so-called mainstream
‘culture’, like always, has conspired to keep
mum about his contribution, actively avoiding
even mentioning his name. Hence, there are no
serious documented accounts of his works till
now.
It is only very recently that Hindi novelist and
story writer Sanjeev wrote a novel on his life
and some research work has been taking place
on his works.
He is greatest flag bearer of Bhojpuri language
and culture. Bhojpuri is widely spoken in
major parts of Bihar including Jharkhand,
some parts of eastern UP and Bengal. He is
not only popular in this linguistic belt but also
in the cities where Bihari workers migrated for
their livelihood.
Many criticized him for upholding feudal and
Brahminical values, which to some extent may
be true. Despite the support and legitimation of
few brahminical and feudal values in his
works, he always pioneered the vision of a just
and egalitarian society and this is the
difference we have to understand.
No vision of egalitarian and subaltern society
can be even imagined under these idiotic and
nonsensical shadows of Brahminical values.
Though his plays revolved and evolved around
villages and rural society, they still became
very famous in the big cities like Kolkatta,
Patna, Benares and other small cities, where
migrant labourers and poor workers went in
search for their livelihood.
Breaking all boundaries of nation he, along
with his mandali, also visited Mauritius,
Kenya, Singapore, Nepal, British Guyana,
Surinam, Uganda, Myanmar, Madagascar,
South Africa, Fiji, Trinidad and other places
where bhojpuri culture is more or less
flourishing.
Bidesia, as a vibrant mode of a regional
cultural expression, rugged and
unsophisticated in form and rich in variety, is a
powerful expression of cultural heritage of
weaker section of society.
Bhikari Thakur, through his artistic talents and
bitter experiences, developed it by picking up
elements from Ramlila, raslila, birha yatra and
other performative elements and molded it into
a totally new and wonderful style known now
as bidesia.
Bidesia means migrated people, who left their
home in search of livelihood, but in the larger
context Bhikari’s bidesia not only migrated
from the lands but also from their culture also.
Many people get confused between the bidesia
style and his play Bidesia. Actually, he did all
his plays in bidesia style which is very similar
to nautanki, but later his theatrical style was
known from his famous production Bidesia.
He has written as well as directed and
performed ten major works; beginning with a
non-serious vasant-bahar based on the dhobi-
dhobin dance he saw somewhere.
After Thakur’s death in 1971, his theatre style
and use of bhojpuri language are continually
being abused by the music industry in
producing bhojpuri songs and plays replete
with sexual innuendo. This is like a counter-
revolution of the brahmin-bania combine
against all the ideals that Bhikari Thakur
propagated through his art.
The dikus have no relations based on social
reality and always aim to get maximum
monetary profits on the basis of cultural
35
vulgarity. This market forced a shift from
Bhikari Thakur’s socio-economic oriented
plays to mere sexual fantasy and cheap
entertainment.
This reflects the creative bankruptcy of dikus
against which we Dalit-bahujans should come
forward and play a vital role to safe guard our
anti-diku legacy in which Bhikari Thakur is
one of the big stars in the galaxy of Dalit-
bahujan revolutionary artistes.
His major productions include: - Bidesia,
Bhai- Birodh, Beti-Viyog or Beti Bechba
(seller of daughter), Kalyuga Prema (Love in
Kalyuga), Radheshyam Behar (based on
krisna- radha love), Ganga-asnan (ceremonial
bath in ganga), Bidhwa- vilap, Putrabadh
(killing of son), Gabar- Bichar (based on an
illegitimate child), and Nanad Bhojai.
Bhai-Virodh (opposition from brother)
This play deals with the theme of joint family,
which is a very prominent feature of Bihar’s
rural society. Three brothers are separated due
to lack of confidence and respect for each
other on the instigation of a person outside
their family. However, at the end they realize
the importance of living together but not
before a lot of harm had actually taken place.
Beti-Viyog or Beti- Bechwa (seller of daughter)
This play is considered a very progressive
play. Bhikari Thakur through this play
criticizes the wide-spread custom of selling
young girls in marriage to much older men.
This custom prevailed in Bhojpuri-speaking
areas until recently. The protagonist is a young
girl whose father sells her to an older person.
Kalyuga- Prem
Through this play Bhikari Thakur talks about
the bad effects of drinking. The lone wage
earner of the family is a drunkard and often
visits prostitutes. This extravagance soon leads
to the pauperization of his family. His whole
family including his wife and son suffers
tremendously because of the bad habits of the
head of the family.
Later in the play the wife and son decide to
confront him but to no avail. Later being fed
up with his father’s immoral ways, the son
runs away from the family and goes to
Calcutta to earn money to eventually return
and rescue his mother.
Ganga-Asnan
Malechu is from a village. His wife wants to
go to bathe in the Ganga but his mother is too
old to do so. The wife finally prevails and they
set out but not after loading much luggage for
his old mother to carry on the way. Before
they reach the Ganga a quarrel ensues and
Malechu beats up his mother. At the banks of
the Ganga, his mother gets lost in a fair. In the
same fair, his wife is seduced by a sadhu with
the promise of giving her a son. Malechu finds
her in the nick of time and epiphany dawns on
the both of them who then find the mother and
beg her forgiveness. The story is a critique
both of the distance between parents and their
children in a situation where old parents are
completely dependent on their children and
also of the tantric culture of sadhus who most
often are conmen.
Vidhwa-Vilap (The weeping widow)
The story is about how widows are treated
within their homes. It is seen as an extension
of Beti-bechwa for more often than not young
girls married to old men; spend most of their
lives as widows. The story reflects the hatred
B. Prakash is pursuing his MA in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi
36
and seclusion a widow has to suffer in
brahminical society for no fault of her own.
Gabar-Dichor
It the story of an illegitimate son of Garbari
and Galij’s wife. Galij returns from the town
to find the village gossiping about his son’s
parentage. He wants to take Dichor back to
Calcutta with him. But both Galij’s wife and
Garbari intervene. A quarrel ensues as each of
them claims Dichor as their own.
The panchayat is called and they decide that
Dichor be divided into three pieces. A man
comes and maps Dichors body and agrees to
do the job for four annas a piece. The mother
relents refusing to pay and giving up all claim
on the son. The panchayat sees the light and
Dichor is allowed to stay with his mother.
Almost all his plays took their themes from
society but were molded in Bhikari’s new
progressive and revolutionary style. When
asked why he took to theatre, Bhikari
answered, “I used to watch Ramlila and
Raslila. When in Ramlila, Vyasji gave
sermons to people; I also thought I could also
give sermons to my people”. This dream came
true and till his last day he served his people
through his sermons, which unlike diku
sermons were based on real life.
But our legendary cultural figure is no more
among us. He breathed his last on July 10,
1971 after giving us a new lease of life.
 Who is the Buddha?
Santosh I. Raut

‘It is in the 6th century BC that Indian history emerges from legends and dubious tradition. Now
for the first time we read of great kings, whose historicity is certain, and some of whose
achievements are known, and from now on the main line of India’s political development is
clear.’
-A.L. Basham

Indian history starts with the Buddha. Buddha I have, this healthy body, rejoice youth! What
– the enlightened one, the perfect human do they, mean to me?” he thought.
being, one who discovered the truth for the
This mental struggle went on in the mind of
first time and showed the way for freedom
Siddhartha until his 29th year. One night he
from suffering, a person who for first time
quietly left the palace, his home, to seek the
gave the model of a casteless society based on
solution to the questions that troubled him. He
equality, fraternity and liberty.
first visited ascetic Bhagava and watched his
‘Buddha has revealed the truth, all compound practices.
things shall be dissolved again, world will
Unsatisfied with what he saw, he went from
break to pieces and our individualities will be
one ascetic to another in search of a path to the
scattered; but the word of Buddha will remain
truth. Finally he went to Magadha and
for ever…’
practiced extreme ascetism in the forest of
It was on a full moon day of Vesakha in c 563 Uruvilva on the banks of the Niranjana. This
BC in Lumbini Park (in Nepal) under a Sal too proved to be a dead end.
tree that Siddhartha was born. His father,
He became very weak but he attempted
Suddhodhana was King of the Sakya clan.
another period of mediation, on the grounds
Siddhartha’s mother Queen Mahamaya died
that “Blood may exhaust, flesh may decay,
seven days after his birth and Mahaprajapati
bones may fall apart, but I will never leave this
Gotami adopted the child.
place until I find the way out from all suffering
At the age of eight when Siddhartha began his and attain enlightenment.”
lessons in civil and military arts, his mind lay
Nirvana
elsewhere, seeking clues to the complexities of
life. The young prince mastered all the It was a great struggle, there was much
philosophic systems prevalent in his time. He suffering. It took him four weeks of mediation
also learnt the mediation from a disciple of to attain enlightenment. It was a full moon
Alarakalam, who had a monastery at day when while sitting under the pepal tree at
Kapilavastu. Bodhgaya, he realized the universality of
suffering and attained Enlightenment.
Throughout his youth he was immersed in the
luxurious life, but his thoughts always returned
to the problems of suffering. “All the comforts

37
Dr Ambedkar has beautifully explained the
phenomena of his enlightenment in his book
Buddha and his Dhamma.
According to him, Siddhartha reached final
enlightenment in four stages:-
 this stage he called reason and
investigation
 in this stage Buddha added
concentration
 in third stage Buddha brought to his aid
equanimity and mindfulness.
 In the fourth and final stage he added
purity to equanimity and equanimity to
mindfulness.
It was December 8th when he was 35 of years
of age that Siddhartha became the Buddha. He
died at the age of 80 in Kushinagara (483
B.C.)
Was Buddha an Incarnation of God?
Never had the Buddha claimed that he was the
son or a messenger of God. The Buddha was a
unique and perfect human being who was self-
enlightened (Samyak Sambuddha). He had no
one whom he could regard as his master. His
own hard efforts took him to enlightenment.
Through his enlightened mind he opened the
door of all knowledge. He knew all things to
be known, cultivated all qualities to be
cultivated. He himself denied the existence of
miraculous God. In the Aguttara Nikaya, he
said, ‘I am not indeed a deva, not a gandharva,
not ayaksha, not a manusya. Know that I am
the Buddha’.
Buddha always guides the world from time to
time, but some people have mistaken the idea
that it is the same Buddha who reincarnated or
appears in the world over and over again.
As Ven. K. Dhammananda says, ‘They are not
the same person; otherwise there is no scope
Santosh I. Raut is pursuing his M. Phil in the Centre for Philosophy, JNU, New Delhi
38
for others to attain to Buddha hood. Buddhists
believe that any one irrespective of caste,
creed, sex, race, religion can become the
Buddha, if he able to remove his ignorance
completely through his own efforts’. After
achieving the nirvana, all Buddhas are similar
in their experience.
Buddha truly revolutionized the then Indian
Society. Many orthodox religious groups tried
to condemn the concept and Buddha because
of his liberal teaching and they misunderstood
and misappropriate the teachings of the
Buddha for their own interest. Many regarded
him as an enemy when the numbers of his
followers increased. Intellectuals and orthodox
believers dislike the concept because his
doctrine attacked the stratification of society
and propagated equality and liberty.
When they failed in their attempt they adopted
the reverse strategy of merging Buddha into
their pantheon.
We are still living within the dispensation of
Gautama the Buddha. The perfect evidence of
this is that of turning the Dhamma-wheel by
modern Bodhisattva Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
on Asoka Vijaya Dasami 14th Oct. 1956 at
Nagpur.
Just after the Diksha ceremony, Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar gave vows-popularly known as
Twenty two vows. In these vows he clearly
mentioned in 4th and 5th vow that, don’t
believe in God: I believe that Buddha is not an
incarnation of Vishnu, such propaganda is
mere foolishness in my view’.
Although the moral conduct of the people has,
with few exceptions deteriorated, the future
Buddha would only appear at some
incalculable period when the path to Nirvana
is completely lost to mankind and people will
be ready to receive him.
 BOOK REVIEWS

Writing and reflecting on Dalit literature

M.N. SANIL

Touchable Tales: Publishing and Reading Dalit Literature

Edited by S. Anand (Navayana publishers: Pondicherry)

The book Touchable Tales: Publishing and Reading Dalit Literature delineates the
undercurrents of the consumption of Dalit literature in India. Anand, the editor of this book
consider Dalit literature as a product of 1970s intentionally written literature. According to him,
it directly or indirectly searched Dalit realities in a cultural manner.
Dalit literature in India is an autonomous Dalit intellectual tradition which exposed the pitfalls of
casteist Indian society. At the same time, it can be also be read as responses to the works of Dr.
Ambedkar. Anand considers the opinions of Dalit writers like Arjun Dangle, Bama, Lakshman
Mane and Narendra Jadhav. He has also interviewed intellectuals like Eleanor Zelliot and Gail
Omvedt.
Anand exposes the paradoxical behaviour of the Indian upper-caste academicians towards Dalit
literature. Most of them used to consume Dalit literature. They used to present papers on the
dynamic dimensions of Dalit literature. But, casteist intellectuals are not ready to address the real
Dalit issues.
A kind of untouchability is practiced in the day to day life of casteist academic community.
Intellectual subordination of Dalit issues by the non-Dalit groups should be examined with this
cultural change. Anand converts the opinions of Dalit-non Dalit intelligentsia to a healthy
dialogue. S.Ravikuamr, an activist-cum-theoretician gives excellent observations on the non-
Dalit consumption of Dalit literature. He considers the growth of Dalit literature as an offshoot of
globalization. According to him, Dalit literature should be more revolutionary in its practices.
At the same time, he is conscious of the pitfalls of economic globalization. According to him,
Dalit literature which used Marxian or pro-nationalist canons is accepted by the non-Dalit
writers. Those Dalit writers who deviate from those two streams are not accepted by non-Dalit
readers.He considers this deviance as a mentality of the Indian brahminical civil society based on
the negation of Ambedkarite philosophical tradition.
When a Dalit intellectual Satyanarayana (Teacher in CIEFL, Hyderabad) offered Dalit study as a
separate course, diku students were not ready to take that course. They considered it as an
amateur course. They considered it as a course provided by an unknown person. The student
community represents the microcosm of neo-casteist academic platform. Sisir Kumar Das
reduces the definition of Dalit literature as the narratives of pain. Satyanarayana criticizes Sisir
for his reductionist definition of Dalit literature.
According to Satyanarayana, Sisir considers caste as a theme and suppress it as theoretical tool to
explain Indian literature. Satyanarayana is trying to resist the macro-micro untouchability of the

39
brahminical Indian educational institutes. The book is problematic but readable and a pioneering
work in an under-focused area of the movement.

Growing up Untouchable in India by Vasant Moon,

Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2001

Dalit debates in India emerged as an ideologically loaded response to the casteist Indian society.
Vasant Moon’s autobiography is recognition of this fact. In this book, Moon tries to historicize
Dalit realities and convert it into political ethno methodological record. His writing is a political
deviance from the mainstream/eclectic/Marxist writings of India.
Vasant is a socially mobile Dalit bureaucrat who had the opportunity to cooperate with the
pluralist Dalit political discourses of Maharashtra. In his hands Dalit autobiography becomes a
political weapon which threatens the statusquoist claims of the diku intellectual discourses.
Eleanor Zelliot, the noted sociologist gives an historical explanation to this autobiography
through her well-written preface. Zelliot considers Vasant’s attempt as a maneuver which traces
the roots of the caste system rather than the depiction of marginalized urban life. Ambedkar’s
impact on the lives of Dalits is explained in the preface.
Moon begins his biography from his native place i.e. vasti/ghetto. The vasti appears as a terrain
of social backwardness. Moon depicts the day-to-day casteist existence of vasti. Dalit biography
is converted in to micro Dalit history through the vivid portrayal of wretched life. Moon’s
autobiography is translated from Marathi to English by renowned scholar Gail Omvedt.
Moon realizes the Dalit political moves to discard the caste based occupations. Moon considers it
a paradigm shift to the world of modernity. He recollects the political practices of the Dalit
activists like Dasarath Patil. At the time, Dalits tried to appropriate market for their mobility in
the monetized Indian society. Moon considers the above mentioned shifts as redemption from the
social backwardness.
His mother is portrayed as an agent who fought with the casteist Dalit Indian patriarchy. His
mother and sister become frames of reference which undermines the knowledge /power relations
of the diku womanhood.
Moon’s description of educational institutes debunks the representation of Dalits in such
brahminical institutions. Due to the casteist implication of the word harijan, Moon rejected the
scholarship of Harijan Seva Sangh.
Buddhism is represented as a counter ideology to the hindutava forces. Conversion and Dalits
become the major themes in the autobiography. After the conversion to Buddhism Maharpura
becomes Ananda nagar. Moon traces the political connotations in the etymological reversal.
Ambedkar’s charismatic leadership transforms Vasant Moon’s political life.
Moon documented the micro-macro details of the pan Indian Dalit assertion. Moon last chapter
reverses the Dalit patriarchal discourses. Narrative jumps from a Dalit male subjectivity to that
of female subjectivity. His wife continues her life as a Dalit activist. Moon gives an
interdisciplinary touch to his autobiography by mixing the socio political cultural aspects of Dalit
politics.

[M.N. Sanil, is pursuing his MA in Sociology at the Hyderabad Central University]

40
 LETTERS WITH INSIGHT

I just found your wonderful Navayana-Insight, web page. I heard about Doc Ambedkar many
years ago but did not know he coined the phrase "Navayana". This is very interesting. I am a 46
year old man who has practiced Buddhism for 20 years. I am very interested in the work of your
organization to help improve Indian society. Thank you for your wonderful aspiration to follow
in the footsteps of Doc A.
Stephen Hendry.
henntsp@yahoo.com

I was reading Sujatha's article. I want to congratulate her for such wonderful article. She is made
of steel. 'Belonging' to a class/caste is an excuse for tying your own hands...Sujatha realized this
and has only climbed up the ladder to free herself...very inspiring...falling short of words.
I have one complain with Editorial Collective. My article in the last issue wasn't edited well
enough. It didn't sound crisp nor did it flow smoothly from one paragraph to the next. It was very
difficult writing personal details about so many lives in the first place. At the end of an
emotionally taxing exercise of writing it out, seeing a badly subbed copy in print broke my heart.
I suggest you guys don't do it in a hurry next time. These are people's lives and their most
delicate and difficult emotions on paper.
Shaweta Anand
Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi

Congratulations on the new-look that Insight has got! Its indeed wonderful that you effort is
picking up so well. A couple of things that other readers/subscribers told me after going through
the articles, and which I too share - 1) Insight needs to be primarily the voice of students,
although it’s good to take everyone along with you. 2) In the interviews, more probing questions
are needed. The answers sometimes seemed somewhat predictable because the questions too
were quite so.
Nikhila Haritsa
Pondicherry University

Thanks. What struck me about the issue is that you have solicited important contributions... I
recall a book printed (where?) which had the papers of a seminar somewhere in Maharashtra a
few years ago - also of Dalit women, but included a few others. Dr. Vijayabharati of Hyderabad
had also spoken there. Yes, I agree that there needs to be more reflection on dalit feminist issues.
I would have liked more details in interviews about dalit-feminists and their experiences with
other feminists, left organizations and male dalit organizations. These narratives are very
important because they have never been articulated before. Swathi touched it briefly in her intro,
but I was left wanting more.
Gita Ramaswamy
Hyderabad

41
I am very much delighted to see Insight, a magazine brought out by Dalit students of JNU. I read
the editorial written by Swathy Margaret. It is thought provoking and questions some of the
hegemonising tendencies prevalent in the Dalit movement. I think the present Dalit leadership
(both in various political parties and those who lead caste organizations) limit their endeavors to
gain certain 'benefits' from the State.
I would like to draw your attention to one of the recent Kerala govt. decisions that says that the
caste of the children of intercaste marriages would be that of the father alone. Earlier child has
the prerogative of choosing either and in most cases; they were give all the benefits of Dalits.
Kerala govt. has given orders and the law was implemented form last April onwards. This was in
accordance with one of Supreme Court verdict which says that caste of the children of inter-caste
marriages would be that of the father. Within no time our "model state" has created law to
weaken Dalits. Not even a single Dalit organization in the State has so far come forward to
question this law. This shows the real patriarchal nature of all these Dalit organizations.
Ranjith T.
SN School of PA, FA and Communication, University of Hyderabad

I had the opportunity to review this entire issue and feel very happy to read a new topic of Dalit
feminism. Every single article was a class by itself, starting from the Editorial page by M.
Swathy to Dr. Kesava Kumar's last one.
To me this was for the first time I came to realize this vast resource of our women intellectuals.
Writing, scholarship and analytical work have been men's domain but certainly this was an ice
breaker. Every one of us must support them in their pursuits and reassure them that for them sky
is the limit, unless you limit yourself.
Historical research article by Smita Patil was great. Our activist women like Rajni Tilak, Pushpa
Balmiki, Sujatha Surepally, Du. Saraswathi and others showed their aspirations and frustrations,
not only with society in general but with our dalit men folk as well. They all deserve our respect
and to be treated as equals.
The other half of the issue "Permanent Column" and "General" were very enjoyable as well. Our
cartoonists did a great job of the front and back page. I think they are no less brilliant than
Laxman the legendry cartoonist of India.
Dr. Laxmi N. Berwa,
M.D., F.A.C.P, Virginia, USA

42
 Our Achievers
Brahma Prakash
He has been selected by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Centre, New Delhi, for the Taiwan
Government’s scholarship for one year’s study in Taipei in eth department of performance
studies. His research area will be aesthetics and culture. B. Prakash will be joining in September.
B. Prakash is the cultural editor of Insight and is pursuing his MA in the school of Arts and
Aesthetics in JNU.

Smita Patil
She presented a paper titled “Constructed Gender and Oppressed Sexuality” at the Sixth Annual
Conference of the International Social Theory Consortium 2005 at the National University of
Singapore. This conference was hosted by the Department of sociology National University of
Singapore in collaboration with Thesis Eleven, Centre for Critical Theory, La Trobe University.
She would like to thank the international Dalit community for its generous moral and financial
support without which her participation would not have been possible.

N R Suresh Babu
In May 2005, he joined the Department of Sociology Bharathiar University, Coimbatore
University, TN, as lecturer. He is about to submit his PhD thesis in JNU on ‘Caste Conflicts in
some selected villages of Tamil Nadu: A Sociological Analysis’.

T. Kabilan
He was selected for the Indian Revenue Service through the Civil Services Exam 2004
conducted by the UPSC. He is pursuing is M. Phil in the Department of Sociology, JNU. He is
working on “Poverty and Information Technology”.

Milind Awad
He has been conferred with the Annabhau Sathe Award by the Annabhau Sathe Mitra Madali,
Majalgaon for his dissertation on Annabhau Sathe titled: “Annabhau Sathe: From Marx to
Ambedkar”. He is pursuing his PhD in English Department, JNU.

43
Dance Bars Ban Debate: Dalit Bahujan Women’s stand
point
After considering socio-political context in
Totality, Dalit Bahujan women from Bombay
have supported the Maharashtra Government’s
recent decision to ‘Ban Dance Bars’. They
strongly believe that all sexual entertainment
industry reinforces the caste system, revokes
dehumanizing Brahminical Peshwaiee value
system used for oppression of women within
the new framework of neo-feudal, global
capitalist system.
They have further demanded that displaced
girls who were earning their living by dancing
and serving liquor in bars should be
rehabilitated by raising funds from Bar
Owners. However they have expressed their
deep concern on possible misuse of the ban as
legal cover for atrocities committed by police
and Government machinery on these women.
It is observed from our past experience while
implementing laws like PITA, police force
always victimize the victims, instead of taking
any action against Bar Owners, Agents, and
Pimps. All of them are merchants of
trafficking industry. While taking advantage
of their poverty and distressed situation, they
attract and force many helpless women to opt
for the work in the sexual entertainment
industry which is major growing field in all
third world countries like India, Philippines,
Thailand etc.
Therefore considering this global situation
Dalit Bahujan Mahila Vichar Manch has
demanded that the State Government should
immediately set up a commission to formulate
wider legal policy to protect increasing
number of victims, based on proposals
submitted by various social organizations in
the past.
44
Kunda Pramilani
A ‘Sexual Entertainment Industry Regulation
Bill’ should be brought out to decriminalize all
victim women who are engaged in the various
sexual entertainment professions for last
several years.
A discussion with many Bahujan women
revealed that they are quite critical about
Maharashtra Government’s double standard
game. They want to oppose both. They are
trying to expose double standard of
government and at the same time oppose bar
defenders. They feel that both have their
immediate interests. Bar Owners support the
dance bar defenders agitation.
Suddenly villains have taken position of
Robinhoods. Dalit-bahujan women are
appealing that the issue should be seen in
wider social context. On the one hand dance
bars will be closed to protect ‘money’ &
‘health’ of neo-rich Maratha-Bahujan
community, but on the other hand, ladies
service bars massage parlors, and all sexual
entertainments in Five Star Hotels will be kept
going under the cover of “Tourism
Development”.
The fact is that the present rulers of state want
to protect neo-rich Maratha and OBC youth
from blowing up their own money which will
possibly go to 'Shetty's' houses in Karnataka,
and bargirls houses in Rajasthan, MP, UP, and
Bihar.
Widely spread AIDS among youth from Sangli
Satara, Baramati, Dule, Parbhani and Nagpur
is also main cause of their worry. The reasons
given by home minister pointing towards
Bangladeshis and 'bad effect’ is
very ridiculous.
The State government’s defender’s agitation
namely ‘Dance Bar Virodhi Manch’ also speak
State Governments ‘Moralist language’. They
openly talk about “bad characters’ of bar
dancers which we feel is very alarming. We
strongly protest against it. We feel Dalit
woman is always stripped off for various
vested interests and ultimately blamed as
having bad character.
The state home minister Mr. R. R. Patil’s
‘Moral Stand’ claiming, “to protect Indian
youth from ‘bad influence,” appears to be
illogical, blind, and connivance approach
towards bitter reality. When there are several
semi-pornographic music channels and
bollywood songs kekoing around us, several
unauthorized slum theatres running in
Kherwadi, Dharavi, Nagpada, Chinchpokli,
show pornographic Hindi films in just Rs. 10
to thousands of children, when several small
boys from slums near railway track carry illicit
liquor tyre tubes on their back; how can one
imagine that children and youth can be kept
away from ‘bad influence’?
To change this ‘A mad bad world’ Mr. Clean
has to turn the whole process of globalization
upside down which is absolutely impossible
because Mr. Clean is now member of a
capitalist state which is dreaming to transform
Mumbai into Shanghai and not a member of
‘Yukrand’ to which he initially belonged.
Every time whenever a crises situation arises
at home Dalit Women are the first to be
stripped off. Their own men push women in
such a difficult situation so that women
helplessly choose that option. When there is
nothing to eat in the house, husbands, fathers
and brothers take daughters, wives and sisters
to lie with either landlord or in new capitalist
mode 'Dance Bars' (first step towards
prostitution.)
When a woman becomes pregnant she is both
disowned by family and thrown out of the
house or she is forced to do abortion because
45
that phenomenon is assumed to be 'Paap'.
There are several women who returned home
to Lucknow, Nepal and Orissa, one can find
several middle aged women abandoned by
their husbands, or stabbed to death.
We are fighting against our own men and
against the hypocritical value system of our
society, which is using, woman’s sanctity
(Sheel) as per its convenience. It is ridicules to
hear when ‘bar opponents’ saying “selling the
(so-called) ‘Sheel’ is wrong.”
Dalit women from all religions are always
used as public property, may it be during
communal violence or local fights or at water-
wells, the fights among villagers, or fights for
power. Dalit woman is first to be stripped
naked. We are fighting against the state
that always uses law to serve its own interest.
We can see that most of the bar girls live under
tremendous fear of rape because they are seen
as public property available only for their
sexual entertainment.
The fear psyche raised by some elite circle that
“to support any ‘Government Ban’ means
allowing ‘moral policing’ and ‘State
interference’ into individual freedom to
‘choose profession’ or ‘to choose sexual
priority’” etc. also needs to be strongly
countered.
These people while projecting themselves
brand all Bar business opponents as ‘Moral
police’ as a result end up defending ‘cruel bar-
business and sexual exploitation necessarily
associated with it. This argument contradicts
its own ideological foundation laid by all
social and cultural movements against
comodification of women’s body.
a) When we oppose any Ban or all laws related
to social issues (such as pornography,
censorship, etc.) are always related to 'moral
policing’ and are basically enforced in
particular socio-political context. It was duty
of the state to make a law against Devadasi
tradition. Maharashtra Government has
enforced ‘Devadasi Prevention law’ in
1983 due to pressure from reformist movement
of Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samitee in
Maharashtra. ANS had published and
revealed the tremendous brutality of this social
custom. Wasn't it necessary?
(b) Why do we deny ‘existence of State’?
We ourselves have demanded its existence
past few years. The same ‘state’ has so far
protected us from all the social evils by
making law against Devadasi tradition, law
against rape, law against sex determination
law against dowry etc.
We have welcomed the Ban on dance bars on
the similar line, as first step
towards preventing the process, which is
bringing all Dalit bahujan women into the sex
entertainment industry, preventing our women
from becoming 'Public Property'. But we will
not allow the ’State’ to play the double game
with us. Is our individual freedom an unlimited
phenomenon or is it seen in the completely
socio-political context?
(c) In the world history the states intervention
is always invited. May it be against custom of
‘Sati’, ‘Child marriage’ ‘Dowry’, or
‘Mutilation’ traditions in Senegal.
Aren’t we supporting Alice Walker’s fight
against ’mutilation custom’ in Senegal (South
Africa)? Feminists from South Africa were
blamed as 'Culture Police’ who are trying to
destroy their ‘so-called cultural diversity’ and
all reformers are agents of White rulers.
Similarly in 19th century, right wing patriots
labeled Jotirao Phule and Raja Rammohan
Roy as agents of British Government.
Which side will you take? On one hand we
demand many legal regulations for social
reform and as a result accept 'State's
encroachment on our individual freedom' and
on the other hand we keep on denying
existence of state contradicts in itself.
46
d) We are fighting against Sex tourism in Goa
and also against eve teasing everywhere. Is
there any difference between 'encroachments
on women's body' in a ‘Sex cubicle’ of a Goan
beach Sex Shop and in any Dance bars?
Aren’t we supporting ‘Trafficking’ business?
Ask any bar girl, how long she works in a
particular dance bar. You will certainly notice
that she never dances in a particular bar for
more than six months. Either they are
removed and sent to another bar or sent to Five
Star Hotel Chain in gulf countries where they
are forced into prostitution or act as porno
films stars.
There is a need to reclaim our legacy in the
radical ideological perspective of Krantiba
Phule, Shahu Maharaj, and Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar. Kratiba Phule fought against
slavery of Peshwaiet Brhaminical value
system; Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj was the first
among all progressive rulers who tried his best
to eradicate
Devdasi tradition and made the Law to include
the name of the (Devdasi) daughter in family
land share and Saat Baara extract. He also
supported old Devadasis by donating piece of
lands to maintain their livelihood. Dr
Ambedkar refused the donation from Tamasha
troupe belonged to Patthe Bapurao because he
believed that money made from tamasha
dancers, is disgrace to human race.
The upper caste in India very cunningly and
skillfully nurtured all the folk traditions of
Tamasha Kalvatini, who originally belong to
all nomad tribes like Kolhati, Paradhi, and
Gondhali. To preserve the sanctity of Caste
system and to retain the sexual health of the
upper caste society, the religious basis was
given to the tradition of devoting young girls
and boys to God through Devdasi, Jogte-
Jogtini, and Vaghya-Murali systems.
Dr Ambedkar very often stressed that the
existence of ‘Kalwatinies’, ‘Devadasies’, and
‘Prostitutes’ as ‘bad disease’ of the society
being very dehumanizing and disgraceful to
Human dignity.
‘Human dignity as women’, once again needed
to be reclaimed because many women like
super model Mallika Sherawat have started
looking to sexual entertainment as a ‘career
option.’ We are humans we are not just a
female creatures made to entertain males.
The bar girls sympathizers claim that 70% of
the agitating bar girls belong to folk traditions
like Bedia, Chari, Rajnat, Dhanwat,
Gandharva, and further assert that “it is their
cultural identity and diversity”, then they are
wrong.
By dancing in Bars and earning their living
through sexual entertainment of neo-rich, neo-
capitalist sexually perverted men in the new
framework of globalization, they are
responsible for pushing 150 years old social
reformist and feminist movement back to the
17th Century.
Krantiba Phule heavily criticized all oppressed
and subjugated people for defending their
oppressors and serving in interest of
exploiters. When bar girls coming on the road
to protest, it is because there is lack of social
awareness. They are not aware that the
shortcut method, which they have opted as
matter of ‘choice to work’, is extremely
dehumanizing and undignified.
When dance bars are closed, it was claimed
that 75 thousand families supported by bar
girls would die out of starvation. To prevent
this starvation one should not oppose them for
keeping their body for sale. This is like asking
a scavenger to lick the feet of money-lords at
promise of Rs. 10 thousand per hour.
Is that supposed to be right choice of
profession? All of us see that farmer’s suicide
attempts cannot be explained with single
simple reason like ‘failure of agro-economic
policy of state government.’ All socio-
47
political movements are fighting against the
disparity in total economic political system.
The dance bar sympathizer movement is
attempting to resolve this issue by separating it
from total socio-economic context. They are
making ‘Bonsai’ of the wider social movement
by localizing the dance bar issue.
The whole sexual entertainment industry has
become prominent source and first step
towards trafficking into the global sex market.
The recent UN report has raised ‘Red alert'
and had sent warning notices to all the
governing bodies of India, Pakistan and
Srilanka for being prominent source of
‘Trafficking’.
The rapid growth of sexual entertainment
industry all over the world is part of ongoing
globalization process. Philippines, Bangkok
(Thailand), Korea, have large number of Sex
Shops. Fathers bringing their little daughters
to work in these Sex shops are no more a news
to us.
New capitalism requires large number of
slaves. It is easier for them to get cheaper
slaves in third world countries like India. In
the Indian society with rigid caste and
religious systems and tremendous socio-
economic disparity, the process of oppressed
people getting easily succumbed to this neo
capitalist slavery, is inevitable.
Certainly we are not against our feminist
friends because we are sure that they will
come with us in our struggle against patriarchy
and fight against male conspiracy, reclaiming
our right on our bodies We would like to
remind our fellow feminist friends about our
past struggles fought by our sisters in rural
areas of Shahada, Sangli, Bihar, Andhra
Pradesh, and most recent one’s in Rawale, and
Raleganashiddhi.
We would also remind our feminist sisters
about our all the struggles against
commodification of women’s body and
constant struggle for Human Dignity as
Women. Dear sisters, you gave us the strength
to break the liquor shops in our village and we
came with you to demonstrate against the
beauty contest.
O sisters we cannot forget the most recent
Train Campaign we fought against the eve
teasing. Please tell us what difference do you
see between those road romeos and the male
customer who pays to get sexually
entertained? Is that seductions business
justified because it financially supports several
poor families?
When every Bar girl dances with ‘lifeless
expression’ and does all seductive movements
in ‘extreme mechanical manner’, then
certainly it is not matter of choice to work.
Obliviously it is a shortcut method to earn the
living.
There are several young boys of jobless
working class people staying in Delisle Road,
ArtherRoad Chinchpokly Lalbaug Govandi,
Kalyan, and Ambernath area have joined to
many extortionist gangs within last ten years
for the sake of ‘easy money’.
Would you call it a right choice? When Bar
girls come on the roads to protest, why do they
cover their faces with dupatta? Why do they
take fake European names as Lily, Pinky,
Kunda Pramilani is a member of the Dalit Bahujan Mahila Vichar Manch is an Issue-
based Platform for individuals and representatives of Dalit Bahujan Organizations
48
Dolly, and so on? Why didn’t they take
traditional names like Laxmi, Amba, Sarswati
and so on to assert their so-called ‘cultural
identity and cultural diversity’?
Obviously it is not matter of their choice.
Their protest serves more to the sympathy
campaign of bar owners and their publicity
hungry union leader.
We appeal to all bar girl sympathizer friends to
work towards new social reformist movement,
which will justify their true human right and
human dignity. Can they tell these little
ignorant sisters that “their right to work is not
in this easy fetching sexual entertainment
industry but they have got right to get
dignified work in their own home town?
Can anybody tell these younger sisters that
when you cross the 25 years age limit, your
commodified body will have no value in the
market hence you will be thrown out to
brothels? Can they tell our sisters that we are
fighting against globalization and also for
Human dignity?
If anybody does not understand what is
burning in our heart, and still they want to
defend the 'cruel bar business' on the fake
ground of starvation let them continue. Our
paths are different.
 Exposing the limits of modern caste discourse
Lakshmi Kutty

This article is composed from excerpts from a letter written by the writer in response to a letter
from a member of the Insight Team.

I don’t think I agree with you when you say reservations, caste-based violence/atrocities,
the Dalits are a weak community by are the most prominent.
themselves, but I completely echo your point
Untouchability is publicly recognized as a
that the non-involvement of non-Dalits in the
caste practice and one that is pre-modern,
movement has been the main cause for
inhuman and reprehensible. There is a
ghettoizing the movement as something
widespread notion that because of laws,
characterizing ‘dividers of hindu society’.
activism, and shifts in public thinking, this
What is happening is that caste is increasingly practice has been reduced significantly.
being seen as something that doesn’t exist in
And if it exists, it does so only in the rural,
modern Indian society, but it is being created
semi-rural areas. So when people associate
by those who try to debate on it. I come across
untouchability as the beginning and end of
this sentiment all the time in casual
caste discrimination, it allows them to rest in
conversations with people around me.
the belief that ‘I don’t practice untouchability,
THOSE PEOPLE who try to make a big issue so I’m not castiest’.
out of it (meaning those who expose its
(This is akin to the manner in which during the
presence in the public domain) are the real
social reform period all anti-caste activism got
‘castiest’ people, not US who have forgotten it
reduced to just ‘temple-entry activism’,
and are moving ahead in life!
whereas the attack and impact of these
I agree with you that the less caste is debated struggles was much wider and deeper.)
in a public, informed, involved manner, the
Another aspect of the presence of caste in
more people will continue to physically and
public life is the issue of reservations. Here too
symbolically uphold it while believing that it
mainstream discourse tends to evade/erase the
belongs in the past. I’m not very sure if what
question of discrimination/disadvantage/denial
I’m saying is accurate, but as this is an open
linked to caste status, in this case by focusing
forum I’m saying my thoughts.
on the importance of ‘merit’ and equality in
One of the reasons I feel caste is erased from the work/education sphere.
the upper-caste/mainstream public domain is
The deeper issue of historical discrimination
because of the manner in which caste gets
and systematic denial of opportunity is
entwined with certain issues, and remains
conveniently sidestepped when this issue gets
associated with only those issues and nothing
reduced to ‘merit versus concessions’.
else: the practice of untouchability, the issue of

49
Murders, lynchings, police atrocities, Dalit
women being raped, property/livelihood being
destroyed… the most visible outcome of caste-
based disadvantages is gross violence. It is
likely that such violence may generate some
public comment/debate, but it also serves to
reiterate the notion that where there is such
severe violence caste is present only there. ‘If
such violence doesn’t characterize my
family/neighbourhood, then there is no caste in
my world’.
It’s really dangerous when the anti-caste
struggle thus gets reduced in public memory to
‘struggles against untouchability’ or ‘in
support of reservations’ or to end ‘caste
atrocities’ (even though clearly, these are some
of the many debates in anti-caste struggles),
because this allows people to dissociate
themselves from it.
It allows people to change the terms of the
debate – in the case of untouchability they
absolve themselves of all caste-related wrongs
by talking of personally condemning the
practice, in the case of reservations they
uphold the secular commitment to primacy of
merit and equality of opportunity, in the case
of caste violence they advocate more civilized
systems of law and order. In all three cases,
who would ever accuse them of being
castiest?!?!
What remains un-reflected when people
dissociate themselves from untouchability
and/or reservations are the many other
insidious ways in which their lives still
legitimize caste. How it impacts one’s
private/public life, opportunities, belief
systems, ideologies, interactions, etc.
For example, the way marriages are fixed, the
values distinguishing good/evil that children
are taught, the notions of beauty/sophistication
we internalize, the manners in which sexuality
and family are controlled… all these betray
castiest prejudices. All these are a result of
50
private/public negotiations that uphold the
purity and sanctity of caste discrimination.
But these wont be acknowledged as ‘castiest’
values; because these are seen as ‘cultural’ or
‘socialization-related’ values. Those who try to
see caste in these harmless/neutral practices
are the real troublemakers in an otherwise
caste-free Indian society!
This dismissal is something even the feminist
movement has had to deal with. Cultural
traditions, socialization patterns, religious
injunctions, societal rules and norms… these
are the most common refrains one hears in
defense of oppressive social behaviours
anytime it is put under scrutiny.
‘Our society is very liberal because it allows
women to get educated, work outside the
home, marry partners of their own choice, but
housework is still primarily the woman’s
domain. This is not because we discriminate
between men and women, but because our
cultural traditions uphold the woman as the
maker-or-breaker of the family’.
It’s no surprise then that movements against
oppressive social practices are largely
movements against systems of tradition and
culture that legitimize such practices.
Given this state of affairs, I think one of the
important moves we as ‘de-stabilizers’ must
make is not just to bring these political issues
into open debates, but additionally to politicize
the tiny micro-structures that make up our
value systems and our worlds. I believe it is
necessary to open up and expose the symbolic
manners of caste legitimacy that are being
practiced and encouraged silently.
In the last issue of Insight, Milind wrote in his
article in the Nationalism issue that common
people, academicians, journalists, children’s
magazines, these are the most dangerous,
because these are what form the popular
imagination of what is valued and what is not.
I was very excited by his point, because I
remembered a statement my professor had
once mentioned – ‘beware of the good
husband!’ It’s easy to fight a husband who
beats/abuses you, but the more dangerous
character is the good natured, mild-mannered
husband because one is never sure how to
pinpoint and fight his camouflaged abuse!
We have to shake up the comfort of the
mainstream and expose the centrality of caste-
and gender-based control in everything that
makes up this ‘mainstream’.
Lakshmi Kutty is a fellow at Sarai, Delhi and is currently assisting Forum against
Oppression of Women in the rapid survey on Working Women in Dance Bars of Mumbai
Locating Dalits in the “Annihilation of Caste”
This article is written in response to the
rhetorical statements made by a senior friend
of mine (during a personal discussion), which
said – “Annihilation of Caste is not ‘our’ aim
and agenda”. He further explained to me that
“we cannot do so because caste hierarchy
comes from the upper strata of caste system. It
is only in the hands of the upper castes
therefore to uproot the caste system as they
themselves are responsible for building it. This
act, i.e. dismantling the caste system is hence
beyond Dalits’ reach”.
The point raised by him left me in deep
thinking about what should be the primary
51
I accept the charge you made about needing to
be thankful that Ambedkar did not give a call
for armed revolt but asked the Dalit to educate,
organize and agitate through democratic
means. As Insight is keeping you sober
through the pain and anger, for me it’s opening
ways to think about my place and my stakes in
the subversion of caste.
And I can’t speak of this yet, but it’s also
making possible a certain understanding of
gender for me that was kind of incomplete so
far.
Moggallan Bharti
aims and programme of Dalit movement if not
the annihilation of caste. Will merely grabbing
the political power solve all our problems?
Does Dalit as a word means liberating people
from the shackles of caste or strengthening it
more in their minds and actions? If it is the
latter then someone must tell me strengthening
which caste as there are hundreds of sub-castes
among the lower strata of caste system and
strengthening it for what?
“Dalit” is itself an intentionally positive term.
Dalit identity is not a caste identity. Dalit is a
symbol for change and revolution. It is an all-
encompassing term which carries the
aspirations of wider deprived and oppressed
sections of society.
Dalits believe in humanism and are best
capable to achieve a combination of
"naturalism of man and humanism of nature",
to use an expression of Marx, enabling
therefore to become complete in themselves.
In Prof Gopal Guru’s words, “Dalit identity
not merely expresses who Dalits are, but also
conveys their aspirations and struggles for
change and revolution”. This would not come
by merely asserting caste consciousness as
revolution demands a comprehensive
programme for greater good of society, which
can only be achieved through the collective
assertion of Dalits as a class – consisting of
women, minorities, peasantry, landless and
agricultural laborers, backwards, tribals, and
all the castes and sub castes from the lower
stratum of the varnavyavasta.
Dalit Identity must be connected to the unity
of larger mass struggle cutting across religious
and linguistic boundaries. To make it more
clear, ‘Dalit’ is secular in nature and not
confined to any caste or religious community.
With reference to “Annihilation of Caste”, I
find no mention of what my friend has argued
with me. On the contrary, I came to realize, in
a very simplistic way, that annihilating the
caste is rather OUR aim and its break up will
not percolate downwards from the upper strata
of caste hierarchy.
Why would the Brahmins go against the caste
system? They will NEVER do this, because by
doing so, they will lose their social privileges
and domination. To quote Ambedkar here,
“…how many Brahmins who break caste
every day will preach against Caste and
against Shastras?
For one honest Brahmin preaching against
Caste and shastras because his practical
instinct and moral conscience cannot support a
conviction in them, there are hundreds who
52
break castes and trample upon the Shastras
every day but who are the most fanatic
upholders of the theory of caste and the
sanctity of the Shastras? Why this duplicity?
Because they feel that if the masses are
emancipated from the yoke of caste, they
would be a menace to the power and prestige
of the Brahmins as a class”.
One does not need the intellect of a rocket
scientist to understand the persisting caste and
class phenomena of Indian society, where
Brahmins act as a class. This class always
strives to preserve their religious, social and
propertied interests as opposed to the Dalits
who are STILL divided into hundreds of sub-
castes.
Brahmins WOULD NOT mind in preserving
the interests of vaishyas and kshatriyas (other
upper castes) vis-à-vis the interests of Dalits,
as this “alliance” between upper castes helps
in the perpetuation of the domination of
Brahmins as a class. It can be seen in society
that there definitely exists such a “United
Front” of upper castes acting against the
Dalits. Thus, there occurs a situation where a
Dwivedi marries a Chaturvedi, who are
basically different in their caste origins but
similar in their class identity.
The same can be said of the Tripathis,
Pathaks, Sharmas, Mishras, Tiwaris and
among the caste kshatriyas and vaishyas
without invalidating the so called rule of “inter
caste marriages”. But such cases are still to be
found among Dalits (leaving out few examples
generally found in educated castes among
Dalits), where Dhobis don’t marry their
daughters to Pasis, Valmikis to Jatavs and so
on. Lower castes have still to materialize the
process of inter-caste marriages in their real
spirit.
In such a situation, can we expect from the
Brahmins to break down the caste barricades?
My answer is an emphatic “No”. Brahmins
will never do this, since they are going to be
the most adversely affected by the break up of
the Caste system. Since only they are the
economic and social beneficiaries of the caste
system, the revolt against the caste system has
to come from below.
We have to infuse among the lower sections of
society the feeling of oneness, which upper
castes already have, i.e. the formation of a
class. In Ambedkar’s words, we have to unite
all the untouchables and other deprived
sections of society with the feeling of
fraternity, which can only be achieved after the
break up of the caste system.
Therefore we have to mobilize all the deprived
castes and sub-castes under Dalits as a class;
only then will we able to fight the evils of
caste system and aspire for a socio-economic-
politically changed society. Dr. Ambedkar was
not against revolution; rather he advocated it
to be possible with the rider of the necessity of
“annihilation of caste”.
He proposed that without annihilating caste,
one cannot achieve revolution in this country.
For him, you have to build a “United Front”
for revolution. For building such a “United
Front”, one has to first break the shackles of
caste first. To quote him, “… men will not join
in a revolution for the equalization of property,
unless, they know after the revolution is
achieved, they will be treated equally and that
there will be no discrimination of caste and
creed”.
Also, while interpreting caste as a harmful
institution, Ambedkar has explained to us that
having a consciousness of caste, will
ultimately lead to a lack of consciousness of
“kind”, i.e. of the own being – the self, what
many Hindus lack till date, as they only have
the consciousness of caste: “There is no Hindu
consciousness of kind.
In every Hindu, the consciousness that exists is
the consciousness of his caste. That is the
reason why the Hindus cannot be said to form
a society or a nation.” In the light of this, it can
53
be stated or said that caste consciousness is
anti-nation in its essence and thereby hinders
the growth of society based on the principles
of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Now coming back again to the points made by
my friend; where do such unilateral statements
stand? Are not such statements indicative of
the retrogression of the “new” Dalit thinking?
Where will we move with such a sectarian
agenda of not abolishing, annihilating the caste
but by strengthening it? Is the caste
consciousness the solution of all and every
problem of Dalits?
One can give answer to this question in the
affirmative, but to its own peril. His
misconception cannot be undertaken for the
misdirection of larger society. For such
misconceptions would again leave us out of
the national discourse. I must say here that
Dalit discourse is not regarding the Dalits
neither it is of the non-Dalits; rather it is the
discourse of the larger Indian society.
Problems of and atrocities committed on Dalits
are of national concern. It is a National
Problem. It is hence a National Discourse.
By establishing that annihilation of caste is not
“our” goal, such people are refuting none other
but Ambedkar’s point that Shastras divine
authority be discarded in order to destroy the
caste system. By doing so they are maligning
the whole Dalit movement by bringing it to
square one.
One must ask some questions to those people
within the Dalit movement, who favor caste-
consciousness that – what is an ideal society
for them and what possible role of caste will
they attach in such a society? That by
ghettoizing Dalits into a particular caste, are
not they restricting a pan-Dalit class
movement in order to construct a larger
egalitarian society?
It is very painful, when someone suddenly
questions the whole philosophy of Ambedkar
by vindicating Caste. It is the contempt of the
whole Dalit movement started right from
Jyotiba Phule, who himself has given the name
“Shudraatishudra” for the formation of larger
untouchable group to fight against
Brahmanism and casteism perpetuated by
them.
I must say that meaning of Dalit does not lie in
the caste organizations, but its real meaning
comes from the comprehensive and captive
role of Dalits who today define every political,
social and economic activity.
Dalit has its own analytical view of judging
the matters with a pro-poor consideration.
Dalit by itself means an inclusive and dynamic
ideology giving space to every pro-people and
also to every pro-women approach.
Some people would, after reading this article,
conclude by saying that I am influenced by the
Marxist interpretation of Ambedkar. To those
who would share this thinking, I would say
that I am rather influenced by the Ambedkarite
interpretation of Marx in the Indian context.
I would also appeal to them to go through
Ambedkar’s writings once more. Ambedkar
has always referred to Brahmins as a class,
against whom he wanted to frame Dalits as a
class, which could only be attained by
annihilating the caste.
Dalit, as a class, can only be realized when
they will act in same tandem in opposition to
Brahmins as a class do. When Valmikis
(scavengers) and Jatavs act in solidarity, when
Pasis would vouch for Dhobis; Khatiks act in
tandem with Mushars; peasantry would fight
for the rights of Tribals; minorities would take
care of other backward castes and when there
will be a real upsurge of subalterns and so on;
only then an effective weapon against the class
of Brahminical forces and an effective tool for
annihilation of castes would be achieved.
Simply put, Dalits would have to assimilate
their divisions into a unified class. The
panacea for Dalit misery and pathetic lives
will not come through the persisting caste
politics of our time, which is day by day
ghettoizing “a particular caste” for the
sustaining of particular class interests.
The solution lies in a democratic revolution
which will change the whole gamut of the
oppressive and discriminatory instruments of
change, which precisely originates from
India’s semi-feudal society.
At the same time, it is also true that any such
type of democratic revolution can only be
possible through the revolutionary upsurge of
Dalits. In other words, this revolution ought to
arise from Dalits.

Moggallan Bharti is pursuing his MA in the Centre for Political Studies, JNU

54
 Affirmative Action in Private Sector
A Necessity for the Marginalized
Even without having achieved substantial
economic growth with justice as envisaged in
the five-year plans, the Democratic Republic
of India has ventured into New Economic
Policy (NEP) and Privatization of Public
Sectors. Needless to state therefore that the
chunk of Indian populace, particularly those
marginalized and oppressed due to historical
reasons, remained neglected. This has
perpetuated caste and various other forms of
discrimination and gross inequalities. It is all
the more important to know the economic and
social status of the marginalized where the
thrust of various welfare organizations and
policy makers be directed.
The contrary is however true. It is assumed
that whatever little progress the SC/ST’s (read
marginalized) have achieved is due to the
welfare state for having assigned the most
important and active role in the process of
socio-economic development. Statistics of the
same is available in the various reports of
National Commission for SC/ST and other
surveys carried out from time to time. The
available record in terms of recruitment speaks
volumes that the participation of this section of
Indian population is inadequate.
There are safeguards in the Indian constitution
for SC/ ST viz., Directive Principles of State
Policy, social, educational and cultural, service
safeguards and by providing statues and
legislations. However, the very participation of
the marginalized group proportionate to their
population in the organized services/ sectors of
the state i.e. Judiciary, Press, Education and
55
Dr. Nand kishor More
Defense are still a distant dream. On the
contrary, their presence as agricultural
laborers, menial jobs, illiterates, homeless,
landless ones are disproportionate.
The issue is whether the sector with no state
control, with no safeguards/ directives would
achieve substantial economic growth and
provide justice to the marginalized. The next is
whether private sector is purely a private
sector without any base or whether it is an
establishment carved out from the already set-
up public undertaking.
It has been observed that the majority of them
been carved out of the already existing ones on
the grounds that the PSUs were making losses,
but many profit making ones have been
privatized making the argument redundant. In
a recently-held meeting with the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment with industry
barons, most of the industrial houses have
opposed to the reservation in private sector
vehemently.
Let’s assume for instance that the policy of
reservation will not be there then what steps
are there in the mind of the government to
encompass and accommodate such a large
section of society for their upliftment (leave
aside bridging social, economic and political
inequalities).
The issue is not of privatization alone but of
the policies and processes mandatory for the
developing economies under new world
regime i.e. World Trade Organization. How
will they affect issues of equity and
participation of people for capacity building
and affirmative actions for the disadvantaged
sections? Although the policies of present
UPA government as per the Common
Minimum Programme (CMP) is very clear
about the policy of privatization of public
sector, it is equally unclear about the
importance of affirmative action and rightful
direction of the state towards public sector by
making mandatory constitutional amendments
and legislations.
Therefore the issue is not only of affirmative
action but also of participation of marginalized
sections of society in the areas where state is
Dr. Nand Kishor More is a faculty at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University,
Lucknow
A Cherished Dream: Common School System
What is to be done?
The concept of Common School System (CSS)
also called a neighborhood school, was
advocated in post civil war as a ‘right’ and
institutionalized in the early 1900s. Common
School System (CSS) may be a new concept
for India, but it’s not a new over the world. It
has been operating successfully in Cuba, USA,
UK, China and Russia. Let us clear what is the
concept of common school system.
56
withdrawing from its responsibilities. This is
Herculean both for the Government and the
people of this country for seeking
employment, resource sharing, capacity
building of the people, rights of livelihood and
sustainability.
In absence of affirmative action, it will be
back to square one where there shall be
poverty and illiteracy. The prospect of the
marginalized joining the mainstream of
development will be bleak, not only for
historic reasons but others and it will be the
same old tryst with their destiny.
Mormukut Suman
The CSS was introduced by the Kothari
Education Commission constituted in 1964.
The Commission said CSS is a tool for social
transformation. It will weaken the disparity
and inequality in education as well as destroys
all the discriminatory walls created by caste,
creed, class and social economic status or
gender bias prevalent in our education system.
In India, there has been a fundamental
difference between poor and medium-elite
student’s education .Elite-medium class send
their children to convent schools, while poor
are unable to pay high fees demanded by elite
schools. The present disparity prevalent in
education system widens the social
segregation instead of bridging it.
I came across the real situation of school
education when I visited one primary school,
situated in Mathura. It is a truism to say that
most government-owned schools are still in
same in condition they were thirty years ago.
To say nothing about sanitation services which
are non-existent. When teachers do not come
regularly to school, we can imagine what
student attendance is. Regrettably this is the
real situation of this school.
If CSS had been implemented, it could have
changed the very face of the school education
in rural areas and urban slums. Fifty percent of
school children drop out of schools before
completing eight years in school. Most of
these students belong to Dalit or Adivasis
communities.
The CSS guaranties equity in education as
well as job opportunities. The notion CSS
refers to a state-financed common quality
education. The CSS will open the window to
access to quality education depending on talent
rather than wealth or class. Education will be
free for every student, no tuition fee is
charged.
The parliament tried to implement it
unsuccessfully not only once but thrice in
1964, 1986, 1991. Lack of commitment and
serious concern over the CSS stalled the Bill
and indicated clearly the government‘s apathy
towards the CSS. The Government wants to
keep the education system unchanged, where
marginalized or poor masses are not able to get
quality education among them most of people
are from Dalit and Adivasis community.
The CSS will fit well in our secular setup,
where many languages are spoken and
religions exist. Democracy requires a common
57
school system. The CSS not only democratizes
the education system but is also a significant
tool to social transformation. The CSS will
provide an opportunity to such students who
are unable to pay high fees and send their
children to schools.
The Kothari Commission recommends the
CSS to utilize 6 % expenditure of GDP on
education. Unfortunately no government spent
more than 3% of GDP on education. The
government has been spending 2.5 % of the
GDP on defense sector. Recently Man Mohan
Singh’s government has increased the defense
budget 77,000 to 83,000 crore.
In 1986 government woke up and constituted
Acharya Rammurthi Committee to find out
reasons which are responsible for not passing
CSS Bill. The Committee says that the
variations among masses and classes highly
deep rooted. The social segregation is much
prevalent in our society, leading them to hate
each other or even sometimes fighting on
pretty issues. In such a situation the CSS can
not be imposed.
The elite class sends their children where they
can get quality education by well educated
professional teachers. However, it did not
mention caste or religion based discrimination,
which is the main the hindrance to CSS. The
second problem he highlighted is
constitutional. According to the constitution,
minorities have been given the right to
establish and administer their own educational
institutions, which is against the spirit of the
CSS. Further, he blamed the government itself
for establishing a few separate schools such as
Sainik schools, Navodaya Vidyalayas, or
Center School, which are against the
democratic spirit.
Few separate schools or institution for a
separate class is not democratic. It is a
governmental duty to provide elementary
education to all students for 14 years.
The fourth reason, the committee attributed to
private managed English medium schools,
charging high fees and having expensive
coaching and better infrastructure. Private
sector schools in India are nothing but an
affluent business. It is true to say that these
private schools are teaching shops running in
two to ten rooms.
During the NDA rule, thousands of business,
engineering and medical colleges along with a
lot of professional institutions came into
existence. The presence of private schools
clearly indicates that the government has failed
to provide education to all. Today, integrating
private schools into CCS has become a far
flung dream.
Mormukut Suman is pursuing his PG Diploma in Hindi Journalism IIMC, Delhi
58
These schools have emerged over the past
fifteen years as an instrument for social
segregation rather than integration. Recently
the Supreme Court directed all public funded
private schools who got land from government
on charity basis to ensure 10% reservation for
weaker community students.
Most of schools including, DPS (Delhi Public
School) defied the decision saying that it is not
practical. What they wanted to say that how
can a rickshaw puller boy sit with an IAS
officer’s son on same bench? So they started
evening class for such students. It’s the need
of hour to implement CCS as soon as possible,
lest we face a more vulnerable state that can’t
be managed.
59