Dwelling with those who reject harmony Is nothing but sharing a pot with a snake for company. – Thirukkural 890 (Ch:Enmity Within)

Writer Imayam Writing 2000 years ago, Thiruvalluvar declared: Be it husband and wife or relatives or friends or the rest in society; living together with those who don’t appreciate amity and harmony is similar to that of cohabiting with a snake. Interestingly, even after two millennia, Thiruvalluvar sounds ominously relevant. In an Indian society poisoned with the all-pervading Brahminical Hindu ideology, life for Dalits is worse than cohabiting with snakes. Sway of Brahminical ideology permeates every field all across either seen or unseen. It is as omniscient as air. It is the middle castes though who preserve the practice of hegemonic ideology created in the garb of Hindu religion. I am not here to dwell upon how the defenders of this exploitative ideology are more culpable than those who founded the ideology or the various acts of resistance like – escaping from the traps of Hinduism like Ambedkar embracing Buddhism or many Dalits embracing Islam or Christianity – or about accepting the subservience or refusing to accept the hegemony. I am also not going to ponder over how even the slightest murmurs by Dalits are characterized as causing social unrest, or comment about the proposition that Dalits should make peace with their place in society in the larger interests of communal harmony and peaceful coexistence. Without destruction of Brahminical ideology, it would not be possible to overthrow its hegemony. That does not mean I am going to mouth rebellious statements “refuse to cow down, break the barriers’. Why institutions like AIIMS or JIPMER are not brought within the ambit of NEET exam. How institutions like IIT and IIM would get degraded due to reservations? How reservations can be a hurdle for India becoming a global super power? I am not even going to question for whose sake you are trying to make India a super power. I am not even going to ask “Isn’t it unjust attempting to create a panIndia education system in Hindi while education is a state subject. Likewise, I am not going to ask the merit of spiritualists who are supposed to have given up worldly aspirations becoming MLAs, MPs, Ministers and CMs or how spiritual gurus are opening branches all over the world like bank branches and amassing huge fortunes. I am neither going to focus on caste and the progenitors of caste based hegemony, the operation of caste based discriminatory system with all the tools of oppression, nor on the exploitative and dehumanizing aspects of caste practices or anything about cultural products like Cinema which play a role in normalizing caste as an amoral entity. There are people who participate in rallies taken for abolishing untouchability and make speeches for the same and then perform their ancestors’ rituals by engaging Brahmins. There are those who are frontline leaders in major parties who are in the forefront of the movement to abolish untouchability and participate as chief guests in caste annihilation conferences but still cannot remove the caste surname in their names. I am not here to question a so called Marxist leader who was a 7-time up MP, even was a Lok Sabha speaker, who not only could not give up his caste surname but celebrated in a grand manner his grandson’s holy thread wearing ceremony. Unfortunately, names like Jyoti Basu and EMS 1

Namboodiripad etc all come to my mind for reasons unknown. The crux of identity crisis is nothing but a complication of caste. Neither I am going to delve deep into why Tarun Vijay felt South Indians are blacks – Is it because of their skin complexion or because they have been kept in the dark by Hindutva. I am a writer. So, I wish to talk about the hegemony only on the intellectual and literary space. The conversations around Dalit literature started during the 1980-1990 period thanks to the autobiographies written in Kannada and Marathi. In that respect, Tamil Dalit literature is indebted to those Kannada and Marathi autobiographies. In Tamil, the autobiographies of Lakshman Mane, Lakshman Gaikwad, Kishore Chanda Bhai Kale like Upara, Uchalia and Gulati were read, critiqued and celebrated more than those by Siddalingaiah, Vasant Moon, Baby Kamble, Sarankumar Limbale, Om Prakash Valmiki, Arjun Dangle, Urmila Pawar. These three autobiographies were titled Dalit Autobiographies and publishedboth in Tamil and English. These were presented as ideal ‘Dalit’ literature in the Tamil world. Lakshman Mane, Aravindha Malagatti, Lakshman Gaikwad, and Kishore Chanda Bhai Kale – all three of them belong to scheduled tribe communities. Their writings Upara, Uchalia and Gulati tell us two types of stories. The first type of story is how their community was insulted by society. The second type of story is how their community insulted communities like Mahar and Mang. Anyone with conscience will say these are not Dalit autobiographies on reading them. But the Tamil literary world and Indian literary world celebrated them as Dalit autobiographies. I guess it would not be wrong to question how this happened or did the intellectuals and litterateurs and those who translated and published not know that these are not Dalit autobiographies. Arjun Dangle and Democratic Forces say we should not subject these to discussion. That’s to say ‘Let’s not talk about internal contradictions. I have the greatest respect for Lakshman Mane, Lakshman Gaikwad and Kishore Chanda Bhai Kale,for they wrote the fact that Gypsy tribes are very different from communities like Mahar and Mang. Following the footsteps of Marathi and Kannada autobiographies, attempts were made for autobiographies in Tamil as well. The attempts were rather induced than voluntary. A lot of vulgarities should be used; that was established as ideal definition of ‘Dalit’ literature. People who said they won’t use swear words or who said what they write is literature and not Dalit literature were branded “Dalit Brahmin” or “Brahminical Slave”. Only in Tamil literary world there were pronouncements claiming “I am not a Dalit writer”, the situation didn’t exist in other states. It was the intellectuals and litterateurs who indulged in these ‘branding’ exercises. In those days, it was a common question to ask while interviewing Dalit writers “What do you think of Dalit literature?. Now a days, the question being asked is “Why do you think Dalit literature has got stagnant?. These two questions are exclusively reserved for Dalit writers, one they are responsible to answer. These are never posed to writers from other caste groups.There are more important questions of ‘high literary value’ reserved for writers from other castes like –“How is the literary atmosphere in Tamil, across India and the World?” Why literature should be written and read? What is the relation between Literature and Life? Literature and Education? How important is the role of language in the way literature operates? And many more. Coming to a Dalit writer questions will be – “How was your youth? How did you do schooling? What insults you faced during your school days? What horrors you faced as a youngster? Are the incidents in your writings from your real life?” 2

Some typical responses,rather depositions, Dalit writers provide without even realizing the motivation behind such questions are as below: “My childhood was spent in a hut similar to a pigsty. Not having enough space, we used to sleep on the street. Pigs also used to sleep with us. We used to play with pigs. The drainage used to flow in front of our houses, hosting lot of mosquitoes. We used to jump in those drains and play. Our street used to witness constant scuffles and petty fights. People used to abuse each other with profanities. When my father used to bring dead cattle and then cut the meat, I used to keep the crows off. When my father used to go beating the drum, I used to accompany him. We won’t have any food in the nights, starving was common. In schools and colleges they used to isolate me. They used to poke fun calling us ‘quota guys’. My writing is nothing but my life, nothing is untrue. My writings got recognition only after the emergence of Dalit literature.” The intellectual world was busy selling such horrors that would evoke compassionate sympathies in anyone’s mind (“What a pity”) in the global market in the name of Dalit literature both in Tamil and English. There were special literary magazines published dedicated to Dalit literature. It was appreciation for not only not forgetting the inhumanities we subjected you to, but for truthfully documenting the same. How long did all that praise and recognition last? Not even 10 to 15 years. It is surprising that the society’s compassion and empathies evaporated in such a short period. The society displayed sympathies based on compassion on reading Dalit literature and autobiographies. Not a sense of justice. Sense of Compassion and Sense of Justice are entirely different. Compassion is by assuming or elevating one’s own superior moral position. Sense of justice subjects one to be critical of his/her own self by questioning their complicity. When Dalits wrote about the hegemony they were subjected to, society responded with sympathy and not guilt. Dalit literature has only generated sympathy so far and not societal guilt, not sense of justice or sense of morality. The purpose of literary endeavoris not to create aesthetics but to procreate social justice. No more special magazines are published for Dalit literature. Books of Dalit authors are not translated anymore. Dalit literature does not command market value anymore. Society’s fountain of compassion is all but dried-up. The importance given to Dalit autobiographies that gave prominence to recounting memories and sexualisms stripped off any and all kinds of political undertones or overtones was not given to the novels, stories and short stories of Dalit authors. Only the autobiographies from Marathi and Kannada were translated. What kind of Dalit literature were they attempting to give shape to, with what features, to illustrate what, for what purpose? When students aspiring to do M.Phil or Ph.D in Dalit literature go to their hostels, they are called ‘quota students’ and are told that it is because of caste based reservation that the quality of education has deteriorated and their lives affected as well. These are not my accusations. Just some of my queries. Every author in the world is only creating literature based on their personal lives, what they have seen, gone through and the social milieu around them etc. This is a wellaccepted axiom. On that basis, in the Indian context, every author is only writing their community literature shaped by their caste life.

3

What a Brahmin writes is Brahminical social life. Similary, a Chettiar – Chettiar social life; a Pillai – Pillai social life; same with Vanniyar, Gounder and Mudaliyar etc. In that case, shouldn’t their writings be identified as Brahmin literature, Pillai Literature, Chettiar, Gounder, Mudaliar and Gounder literature etc. But that is not the case. When other communities write, if they don’t become caste literature but just become “literature”, how come what a Dalit author writes become “Dalit Literature” rather than becoming “literature”?“ Is it again to isolate within confines of untouchable boundaries-literature’s way of ghettoizing Dalit authors”- Dalit Literature vs Literature is eerily similar to like Cheri vs Ooru dichotomy If I am the indigenous community here, and if this language is mine – even if that’s referred as inferior language by Sanskritists – what I write only can be called as Tamil literature. Its intriguing and ironical that what Siddhalingaiah, Aravindha Malagatti wrote became Kannada Dalit literature rather than Kannada literature, what Vasant Moon, Baby Kamble, Sarankumar Limbale, Om Prakash Valmiki, Arjun Dangle, Urmila Pawar, Lakshman Mane, Lakshman Gaikwad and Kishore Chanda Bhai Kale wrote become Marathi Dalit literature rather than Marathi literature. Journalists who interview Brahmin, Mudaliar, Pillai, Gounder, and Vanniar authors do not ask questions such as “What do you think about your caste literature?” or “What do you think is responsible for your caste literature to be stagnated?”. What is stopping them from doing that? You can refer a Dalit author and his literature as “Dalit Writer” and “Dalit Literature” overtly. That does not cause any social upheaval. Dalits themselves quite willingly accept such branding and labeling. They are in fact enthused by that recognition. But that is not the case with intermediate castes. So, Brahminical ideology granted regional identities to the literature of intermediate castes – Kongu Nattu literature, Nanjil Nattu literature, Karisal Kaattu literature etc. If left-leaning authors write then that is branded “Progressive” literature. Then, who is writing Tamil literature? If a Brahmin living in Nanjil Nadu writes, that is simply called as Tamil literature with no tag of Nanjil Nattu literature. And, what is written by Kongu Nattu Brahmins is also not Kongu Nattu literature. Karisal Kattu Brahmins don’t write Karisal Kattu literature. Be it Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Chidambaram, Nagerkovil, Chennai or Kerala or Mumbai, Delhi or for that matter any corner of the world – if it is a Brahmin writing in Tamil that just becomes Tamil literature. This is the unmasked face of Brahminical Hindu ideology. We can at least make sense of the caste discrimination, apartheid and other associated inhumanities perpetrated by people living in villages. We have no trouble understanding the acts of caste leaders, caste based political parties etc. The activities of groups like RSS, BJP and other associated Sangh Parivar outfits are more than obvious. These are all known enemies. They make no secret of their intentions and their ideologies declaring Dalits as enemies in no uncertain words. But how we even make sense of the actions of intellectuals, litterateurs, the educated, the progressives, people who declare they don’t follow caste system, people who say they are revolutionaries, left-wing comrades, leaders of caste annihilation groups. How to get rid of these diseases of inherent/internalized Brahminism, imitation and emulation of Brahminical rituals, practices and worldview? Who/what are the snakes (internal enemies) sleeping with us? How do we recognize them? Members of the intellectual class are not necessarily those who have internalized and practicing in their everyday lives the principles of democratic ideals or Marxist theories. 4

While these intellectuals appear rational and progressive human beings who have the highest regard for the noble ideals of literature and art, their commitment to emancipatory ideals stop with words; incapable of ‘Praxis’. It is rather just a business for most of them with specific utility value for self-promotion and identity. At various moments of history such as the advent of railways, industries, cinema theaters, bus transportation and great improvements education and economy it was premised that untouchability and caste will be annihilated. The naiveté of such foolish assertions have been proven patently wrong by the extreme agility with which caste as an institution has adapted to changing times and tightened its grip on society even further. Every modern development is adapted to the service of caste. Even the so-called social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp are effectively used to promote caste. There are people posing with swords stating “I will kill you, if you dare to look at the women belonging to my caste” in Facebook photos. Collaboration features in Facebook and WhatsApp are being used by groups carefully created by verifying caste membership. Each and every technological progress can be co-opted to strengthen and preserve caste, online matrimony and dating sites being the simplest of examples. That is the power of caste procreated by Brahminical Hindu religion. Its ability to undergo metamorphosis through constant adaptation is unmatched. As the ultimate evolveer, probably caste is the sociological equivalent of biological HIV. Presuming that villages are the ultimate sites where caste is practiced and protected, Ambedkar gave a call to “Vacate the villages”. Lots of Dalits have moved to cities with the help of modern education and job opportunities. At the same time, Dalits who are original inhabitants in many cities are being displaced in the name of urbanization, beautification with the blame for congestion and squalid conditions attributed to slums. Modernization and urbanization have become the instruments to fatten the Big Businesses. Apart from the Brahminical Hindu religion’s hegemony, now we also have to face the economic and political hegemony of Big Business oriented development that are at the service of crony capitalists. The homogenizing tendencies of these hegemonic processes are capable of destroying unique traditions that can challenge their dominance and provide alternatives. Our Gods are at the service of caste hegemony. Our religions are at the service of caste hegemony. Our languages are designed to preserve caste hegemony. Our art and literature are also evolved to cherish caste hegemony. Our knowledge systems are designed to protect caste hegemony. Our cinema is at the service of caste hegemony. Even our intellectuals and litterateurs are those who have dedicated themselves to preserving the integrity and sustenance of Brahminical Hindu caste hegemony without any compunction. * Translated by Antony Juno Jesa References : 1. Oru Dalitidam irunthu

Vasant Moon translated into Tamil by V.Govindasamy – 2002

2. Suthanthira Kattru

Baby Kamble translated into Tamil by Mu.Na.Pugazhenthi – 2010

3. Joothan

Om Prakash Valmiki translated into Tamil by V.Govindhasamy–2003

4. Oorum Cheriyum

Siddhalingayya translated into Tamil by Pavannan – 1998

5. Uchalya

Laxman Gaikwad translated into Tamil by S.Balachandran –

2001

5

6. Kolhati

Kishore Shanthabai Kale translated into Tamil by V.Govindhasamy–

2001 7. Upara

Laxman Mane translated into Tamil by S.Balachandran – 2001

8. Anarya

Sarankumar Limbale translated into Tamil by V.Govindhasamy

9. Government Brahmana Aravinda Malagatti 10. Poison Bread

Arjun Dangle

11. Adayan

Urmila Pavar

12. Vadu

K.A. Gunasekaran

6