Dalit Identities and the Dialectics of Oppression and Emancipation in a Changing India: The Tamil Case and Beyond

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 5-20

  Racine, Jean Luc ^a   Racine, Josiane ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURE; GRASSROOTS LEVEL; RELIGION;

INDIA; TAMIL NADU;

EID: 0032420947     PISSN: 1089201X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/1089201X-18-1-5     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. When the Dalit Panthers were founded, an obvious reference to the US Black Panthers. See Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit. Essays on the Ambedkar Movement (Delhi: Manohar, 2nd revised edition, 1996).
2. We shall limit here the use of "Dalit" to refer to those earlier defined as the so-called "Untouchables" or Harijans. Some tend to enlarge the concept in order to include all those oppressed by the traditional dominant ideology, be they the so-called low castes, the Muslims, or women. See Gail Omvedt, Dalit Visions. The anti-caste movement and the construction of an Indian identity (New Delhi: Orient Longman, London: Sangam, 1995). This is perhaps a way to help social movements to coalesce for changing the pattern of domination in India, but in the present stage probably rather confusing. Others prefer to use the Hindi word "Bahujan" - the masses - to define the entire body of the oppressed, without discussing the possible contradictions existing among them.
3. The French original by Viramma, Josiane and Jean-Luc Racine: Une vie paria. le rire des asservis. Inde du sud (Paris: Terre Humaine, Plon-UNESCO, 1995), has been translated into English with abridged notes and comments: Viramma. Life of an Untouchable (London, New York: Verso-UNESCO, 1997).
4. The French original by Viramma, Josiane and Jean-Luc Racine: Une vie paria. le rire des asservis. Inde du sud (Paris: Terre Humaine, Plon-UNESCO, 1995), has been translated into English with abridged notes and comments: Viramma. Life of an Untouchable (London, New York: Verso-UNESCO, 1997).
5. Michael Moffatt, An Untouchable Community in South India. Structure and Consensus (Princeton, 1979).
6. Katherine Gough, Rural Society in Southeast India (Cambridge, 1981).
7. Joan P. Mencher, "Group and Self-Identification. The View from the Bottom." ICSSR Research Abstracts Quaterly (New Delhi, 1973), Vol. III, 2-3.
8. Figures quoted from official government data by S. Anandhi in her lecture "Dalits and the land question" delivered at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, May 4, 1998.
9. For Tamilnadu, A. Padmanaban gives the following figures for registered "cases of crimes committed on Scheduled Castes by Members of Non-Scheduled Castes:" 709 for 1988, 482 for 1989 and 544 for 1990. For All-India the figures are respectively 15207, 15799, 17737. Such data, however, does not always indicate what these crimes were. A. Padmanaban, Dalits at the Crossroads. Their Stuggle Past and Present (Madras, 1996), p. 175. For the year 1986, among the 758 cases registered, 18 were murders, 8 injuries, 14 rapes, 16 arson, and the rest undetermined (Report of the SCs and STs Commission, 1986-87, Madras, quoted by S. Anandhi, cit.).
10. For Tamilnadu, A. Padmanaban gives the following figures for registered "cases of crimes committed on Scheduled Castes by Members of Non-Scheduled Castes:" 709 for 1988, 482 for 1989 and 544 for 1990. For All-India the figures are respectively 15207, 15799, 17737. Such data, however, does not always indicate what these crimes were. A. Padmanaban, Dalits at the Crossroads. Their Stuggle Past and Present (Madras, 1996), p. 175. For the year 1986, among the 758 cases registered, 18 were murders, 8 injuries, 14 rapes, 16 arson, and the rest undetermined (Report of the SCs and STs Commission, 1986-87, Madras, quoted by S. Anandhi, cit.).
11. For more details see A. Padmanaban, op. cit., 1996, who quotes T.P. Kalamananathan's Mr K. Veeramani refuted and historical facts about the Scheduled Castes struggle for emancipation in South India.
12. For more details see A. Padmanaban, op. cit., 1996, who quotes T.P. Kalamananathan's Mr K. Veeramani refuted and historical facts about the Scheduled Castes struggle for emancipation in South India.
13. The Vaikom agitation was aimed at opening the streets bordering the main temple of the town to all, as a prelude to the opening of the temple itself. Gandhi came there long after Naicker, who criticized him on his moderation.
14. The Indian President is elected by the two Chambers of the Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and by the Members of the State Legislative Assemblies. The tradition is for the parties in power and the Opposition to try to find a consensus candidate. K.R. Narayanan was such a candidate of great distinction, the son of a Dalit family from Kerala who made the best use of the scholarships he received. He has been a minister in the government of Indira Gandhi, Vice-Chancellor of die prestigious Nehru University in New Delhi, India's Ambassador to Washington and Vice-President before being elevated to his present position.
15. The Indian electoral system provides for "reserved constituencies" (75 seats for Scheduled Castes - including 7 from Tamilnadu - and 37 from Scheduled Tribes, out of a total of 543 seats). In such constituencies, only SCs or STs candidates can compete: it is a way of guaranteeing that Dalits and Tribals will get a minimal number of representatives to the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Parliament.
16. In the Preamble, the Constitution vows to secure for all Indian citizens, justice, liberty, "equality of status and opportunity," "fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual." Article 15 (prohibition of discrimination) has obvious references to untouchability when it mentions "access to shops, restaurant, hotels... use of wells, bathing ghats, roads." We must recall here that the Constitution and the laws of independent India have not banned castes. They have simply outlawed untouchability and made it a punishable offense: article 17 proclaims that "untouchability is abolished and its pratice in any form is forbidden."
17. In a documented analysis of the various types of Dalit literature they found in Tamil, M. Kannan and F. Gros consider that the Tamil Dalit literature is still in its infancy, and not creative enough, despite the proliferation of writings: "Les dalit tamouls en quête d'une littérature," Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (Paris, 1996), no. 83, pp. 124-153.
18. Karuna Manokaran, Varalarrup por (The History of the War) Samikaniti Patippakam, Tiruppur (1993).
19. Raj Gauthamam, Talit parvaiyil tamijp panpatu (Dalit perspectives on Tamil culture, in Tamil) Pondicherry, 1994.
20. K. Subbaiya: Yuttam Totarum (The War will come), Sparttacs (Spartacus) Patippakam, (Pondicherry, 1991).
21. Kurusu Sacratis (Socrates): Navval (Nagarkoyil: Ernasto Veliyidu, 1994).
22. Preda, Predan, Ramesh, Prem: Putaikkappatta piratikalum ejtappatta manitarkalum (The buried copies and the men on whom it has been written about), Kiranam Veliyidu, Chennai, 1992.
23. While BJP politicians might celebrate Ambedkar for courting the Dalits, pro-Hindutva intellectuals adopt a different position, denigrating the neo-Buddhism promoted by Ambedkar as a way of Dalit emancipation. See the controversy raised by Arun Shourie's book: Worshipping the False Gods, in 1997. Kancha Ilaiah, well known for his own book Why I am not a Hindu, links the attacks on neo-Buddhists and on Ambedkar as another attempt to dissociate the leading Dalit figure from Gandhi, as the Hindu nationalists try today to win back Gandhi's image and prestige to their side, even though Gandhi's assassin came from the fold of the Hindu extremists. See Illaiah's comment: "Attacks on Ambedkar," The Hindu, August 30, 1997.
24. While BJP politicians might celebrate Ambedkar for courting the Dalits, pro-Hindutva intellectuals adopt a different position, denigrating the neo-Buddhism promoted by Ambedkar as a way of Dalit emancipation. See the controversy raised by Arun Shourie's book: Worshipping the False Gods, in 1997. Kancha Ilaiah, well known for his own book Why I am not a Hindu, links the attacks on neo-Buddhists and on Ambedkar as another attempt to dissociate the leading Dalit figure from Gandhi, as the Hindu nationalists try today to win back Gandhi's image and prestige to their side, even though Gandhi's assassin came from the fold of the Hindu extremists. See Illaiah's comment: "Attacks on Ambedkar," The Hindu, August 30, 1997.
25. While BJP politicians might celebrate Ambedkar for courting the Dalits, pro-Hindutva intellectuals adopt a different position, denigrating the neo-Buddhism promoted by Ambedkar as a way of Dalit emancipation. See the controversy raised by Arun Shourie's book: Worshipping the False Gods, in 1997. Kancha Ilaiah, well known for his own book Why I am not a Hindu, links the attacks on neo-Buddhists and on Ambedkar as another attempt to dissociate the leading Dalit figure from Gandhi, as the Hindu nationalists try today to win back Gandhi's image and prestige to their side, even though Gandhi's assassin came from the fold of the Hindu extremists. See Illaiah's comment: "Attacks on Ambedkar," The Hindu, August 30, 1997.
26. See for instance Henry Thiagaraj (ed): Human Rights from a Dalit Perspective, Dalit Liberation Education Trust, Madras, n.d. (circ. 1994), and the Dalit International Newsletter, published from Waterford, CT, USA.
27. See for instance Henry Thiagaraj (ed): Human Rights from a Dalit Perspective, Dalit Liberation Education Trust, Madras, n.d. (circ. 1994), and the Dalit International Newsletter, published from Waterford, CT, USA.
28. In few cases, however, new Universities have been named Ambedkar, by Governments eager to send a signal to the Dalit community.
29. See the brochure Dalit Struggle. An Interview with Fr L. Yesumarian, Kolar Gold Field/Madras, 1995. L. Yesumarian is a Jesuit priest and advocate defending Dalit causes in courts, and a key leader of the panchami land struggle.
30. S. Anandhi, in her Paris lecture on "Dalits and the land question," May 4, 1998.
31. See Rev. John C.B. Webster, Towards Dalit Liberation. From Indian Church to Indian Theology. An Attempt at Theological Construction (Madras Dalit Liberation Education Trust, 1992).
32. The Communist Party of India is the old Indian Communist Party, close to the USSR for a long time. The Communist Party of India-Marxist split from the CPI in 1964; it had a greater freedom from Moscow, without turning pro-Chinese. Both of them follow a parliamentary strategy, and have elected MPs. The Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist broke away from the CPI-M in 1969 and chose a pro-Maoist line, was very active in the Naxalite movement in Bengal, which was crushed by the CPI-M government in power. Most of the ML groups distrust the electoral process as a tool for real change.
33. It may be noted also that, for rewarding the Telugu Desam leader - and Chairman of the United Front - whose defection helped the BJP coalition to gain the confidence vote after the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP chose to elevate to the high status of Speaker of the Lok Sabha a Dalit MP from the Telugu Desam: G.M.C. Balayogi. One must remember that a Dalit, Babu Jagjivan Ram, had been one of the most important Ministers of Indira Gandhi, holding key portfolios in the seventies.
34. See M.S.S. Pandian: "The fragmentation of the Tamil Polity," The Hindu, March 26, 1998. Pandian notes also two additional divisive trends weakening the hegemony of Dravidian politics. In the context set by "the slowly and surely growing Hindu communalism in Tamilnadu," some non-Brahmin high castes have started playing the Hindu mobilization card on their own on the political field, just as some Brahmin-led organizations do. On the other hand, some Muslims (besides those tempted by extremist militancy) tend as well to set up their own new party, such as the Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, whose name itself is a clear transfer from the DMK: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
35. To give names of Dalits to some of them raised tensions amongst other castes.
36. V.S. Sambandan: "Behind the southern sparks (I). Changing economic equations," The Hindu, July 31, 1997.
37. George Mathew, "The meaning of Melavalavu," in The Hindu, September 30, 1997
38. As S. Anandhi observes in Madras slums. See her study: Contending Identities. Dalits and Secular Politics in Madras Slums (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1995).
39. The 6.3 millions Buddhists registered by the Indian Census of 1991 are primarily the so-called "neo-Buddhists," i.e., converted Dalits. They represent only 0.77 percent of the Indian population, and roughly 2.1 percent of the Scheduled Castes population.
40. While "old" conversions are a matter of fact, new conversions -particularly of Dalits - are a matter of controversy. The conversion to Islam of a few hundreds Tamil Dalits at Meenakshipuram, in 1981, has been seen by Hindu nationalists as a dangerous signal of a deliberate attempt of Islamic groups to "subvert" (with the help of Gulf money) disgruntled Dalits in order to implement a deliberate strategy of undermining Hinduism in India. For a more balanced view, see M. A. Kalam, "Why the Harijans convert to Islamic views. Reservations with reservation," South India Research (1984), 4, 2, pp. 153-167.
41. Katti Padma Rao, Caste and Alternative Culture (Madras: Centre for Research on New International Economic Order, 1995).
42. Such a suggestion, which would ban freedom in a matter related to what appears as the ultimate refuge of individuality calls for (at least) two comments. Firstly, it consists of simply inverting the old interdiction of marrying outside one's caste. In other words, Padma Rao's proposal still takes for granted the old conception that marriage is not a matter of love, but a social alliance. Furthermore, the actual prohibition of marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits is a matter of custom, not of law, a custom which has not yet disappeared from rural India. A "love marriage" between a Devendra Kula Velala and a "caste Hindu" at Chettikulam village (Perambalur district) in 1998 resulted in the social boycott of 600 Dalit families, who were prohibited by the dominant caste from sending their children to school, from buying food, and getting medicine from the local shops, in addition to the violence instigated against some of them (see The Hindu, July 24, 1998). Secondly, to call for a law underlines the fact of how difficult it is to change minds without the State imposing its own prohibitions. There is, of course, no chance that such a proposal could ever become a law. What the government does, on the other hand, is to encourage inter-caste marriages celebrated in collective weddings ceremonies in the presence of political leaders, with a gift in kind or in cash offered to the couples.
43. S.K. Thorat, "Dalits and Human Rights. A Part of the Whole but a Part Apart," paper presented to the National Workshop on Human Rights and Societal Changes with Reference to Scs and Sts, Madras, August 3-4, 1996.
44. D.R. Nagaraj: The Flaming Feet. A Study of the Dalit Movement in India (Bangalore: South Forum Press/Institute for Cultural Research and Action, 1993).
45. D.R. Nagaraj, op. cit., p. 9.
46. D.R. Nagaraj, op. cit., p. 31.
47. D.R. Nagaraj, op. cit., p. 34.
48. D.R. Nagaraj, op. cit., pp. 62-63.
49. D.R. Nagaraj, op. cit., p. 44.
50. Deconstruction is not an easy process, for it requires one to deconstruct also a part of oneself. In writing a review of our book, Une vie paria for a noted Dalit literary journal published in Tamil from Pondicherry, Nirappirikai, the author M. Kannan, a non-Dalit who does not know French, willingly relied extensively upon the perspective offered to him by an unquoted (but easily identified) French master of Tamil Classical Studies, hence reproducing, strangely enough for a radical journal promoting a new culture, the old guru-shishya brahminical tradition linking the obedient disciple to his wise master. Faced with the words of Viramma, the middle-class reviewer could not free himself from his own cultural background and hear an ordinary Paraiyar voice that did not belong to an "angry" stereotype. He preferred to attribute it to a manipulative Western label because a French scholar had collaborated in editing and publishing Viramma's life story. The irony is that Nirappirikai itself, open to post-modernist thinking, is frequently quoting Foucault and Derrida. The reviewer remained unaware of a link between Viramma's sayings and Foucault's writings on the cultural interiorization of oppression. In the same vein, Kannan's reaction to Viramma's crude language and to her (short) comments on sexual pleasure are very much in line with the standard petit-bourgeois puritan Indian model inherited from colonial times. This dichotomy between the necessary but difficult intellectual conceptualization of Dalitness and the willingness to listen to the ordinary voices has large implications. It explains incidentally why, when the reviewer and the two Nirappirikai editors went to Viramma to question her, they were simply perceived by her as a team of arrogant urbanites disrespectful of an old Paraiyar woman. Oral culture, which requires time and respect, is decidedly a difficult challenge for many intellectuals. Quite a few, be they Indian Kannans or French orientalist erudites, are apparently not yet prepared to see an illiterate Dalit be part of a series - Terre Humaine - on an equal footing with Claude Levi-Strauss and a number of well recognized academics. The review referred to has been published by M. Kannan, in Nirappirikai, May 1996, no. 8, pp. 71-78.